Riffs

Ferocious as it is modern, hectic as it is intelligent and angry as it is ...angry – Dublin outfit Legion Of Two make thrilling electro-metal, and all without so much as a guitar string.
On their debut album Riffs, former Decal maestro Alan O’Boyle and drummer David Lacey seem to be auditioning for the job of film composers. ‘Legion Of Two’ feels almost cinematic and a certain ingenuity in its peaks and dives suggests O’Boyle and Lacey would do well to turn their hands to a spot of movie soundtracking (should a Rock & Rule for the noughties come along in the next year).
‘Turning Point’ is just that – a coup at the halfway mark, taking Riffs in a notably more melodic direction and thankfully making up for tuneless intro ‘Starbound’ and the almost unbearable crescendo at the end of 12 minutes of ‘Handling Noise’. Even easier to enjoy are the cosmic warpings of ‘It Really Does Take Time’ and whimsical interlude ‘abc’ – a peppy synth-heavy jive where a child reciting the alphabet constitutes the record’s only vocal.
Intricately-paced, with strong beats and taunting, er, riffs... Riffs will leave your head pounding in a good way as well as bad (‘And Now We Wait’ is fabulously addictive).
It won’t be leading any newcomers to grindcore (by drum beat, laptop or any other method) but Riffs displays an excellent understanding of mood and atmosphere and I can honestly say that never before have I experienced such adept use of feedback as a musical tool. A solid album, but only for those who can handle a lot of musical bite.

Key Track: ‘And Now We Wait’