By Andrew Bansal
Rising amongst a new crop of Los Angeles-based heavy metal bands, Legal Tender started out in 2009 and following the release of their ‘Lust In Demons’ EP last year they’ve been highly active in the local scene, playing plenty of gigs and putting on impressive performances. Whilst doing so, they’ve also written new material which they’ve presented as part of their live set in these shows, and ‘Swallow Your Soul’, one of the tunes they’ve played regularly over the past few months has been officially recorded and released to give listeners a taste of what the band’s new material sounds like on a studio recording.
Boasting of catchy guitar riffs, a combination of crisp clean vocals and occasional growls, shifts in moods and tempo and great solo/harmony guitar section as its centerpiece, the song instantly appeases the genuine heavy metal fan and with its production quality, it successfully captures the musical talents of Jonah Nimoy (vocals/guitar), Frankie Lindia (guitar), Sam Herman (bass) and Adrian Aguilar (drums), as well as some of the energy they bring on stage.
Legal Tender are the kind of band whose music isn’t quite wholly engulfed under the revivalistic New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal blanket and isn’t by any means solely ‘modern metal’ either, but falls somewhere in between, and that’s perhaps what distinguishes them from other young bands, specially in the LA area. The single is a mere taste of lots more new material to come from Legal Tender in the near future, and in the meanwhile, they’re getting ready to destroy stages all across town and beyond.
Rating: 9/10
Release Date: July 23rd 2014
Links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram | youtube | soundcloud
Upcoming shows:
August 9th @ The Roxy with Wovenwar