From the smouldering remains of various Nottingham bands spring forth The Legion Of Doom, an instrumental metal quartet with more riffs than Lemmy has warts. In case you were wondering if they’re shit, well, they’re not. They’re totally ace.

In three songs Legion Of Doom give a 15-minute masterclass in metal. There is no need for a dreadlocked, tattooed chimp to grunt about the dark forces at work within his soul. There is no need for a leather-trousered, poodle-haired pub rocker to shriek about hobgoblins, dinosaur kings or corpse romance. There is no need for a bespectacled, muscle-bound straight-edger to bellow incoherently about, well, fuck knows what. All we need is what we get - riffs as good as anything off Ride The Lightning tied to riffs as good as anything off Peace Sells…., emblazoned with killer solos in the proper tradition of The Widdle.

Thanks to a meaty production, powerhouse drumming and an understanding of the dynamic sensibilities of the best bits of contemporary metal (i.e. System Of A Down), the Legion’s deployment of traditional metal techniques like tapping and galloping rhythms doesn’t sound even slightly dated. The most important thing, of course, is that from the downtuned onslaught of “Antediluvian Motherfucker” right through to the Maiden homage of “Doomsday Device” and its concluding Pantera stylings, there’s not a single duff moment.

The only thing that gives this away as being only a demo is the “Home PC” look to the inlay artwork, and the fact that, as with all cheap CD-Rs, my stereo refused to play the sodding thing after about three spins.

Tom Pegg

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