Deathless Legacy: Dance with Devils (2017)

Deathless Legacy started out their existence as a tribute band for Italian horror metal legends Death SS.  The band has since started recording their own material, but definitely still have the same horror vibe, so much in fact that Rob Zombie himself chose them to support his band.  This has given Deathless Legacy a lot more exposure and a potential breakout.  Dance with Devils is Deathless Legacy's third album, and their second in as many years.

A lot of bands over the years have attempted to marry horror imagery and metal music.  Chief among them is the aforementioned Rob Zombie, but there have also been Theatres Des Vampires, Cradle of Filth, and Lordi, among many others.  Some are more successful than others.  The real key is to present an interesting live show, but make sure that the music is high quality as well.  The hope is to appeal to more than just the Hot Topic crowd (is Hot Topic still a thing?  I have no idea).  It is obvious the horror elements are there on this release.  Song titles like "Headless Horseman", "Witches' Brew", and "Devilborn" give that away quite quickly.  From an audio standpoint, there are the cackling Wicked Witch-style vocals of singer Steva La Cinghiala, the frequent eerie keyboard melodies, and the skits performed between songs by members of the band credited solely as "performers".  I have read that the band puts on some impressive live performances, and I could believe that based on what I am hearing on this album.

Musically, Deathless Legacy are kind of all over the place.  Some songs come close to power metal, whereas others are more on the doom metal spectrum.  Others are barely metal at all.  So it is a little bit uneven and inconsistent from a musical standpoint.  The real star of the album is clearly the vocalist.  There are not many long breaks in songs where there are no vocals and most of the music is not terribly technical.  The music mostly seems to simply be there to support Steva.  Which is not to say that the music is bad at all, frankly I would like to hear it a little bit more.

For the most part, this album is quite catchy and the musicianship is certainly competent.  Steva has a very intriguing voice.  The only real issue is the lack of a real standout track.  It is a fun album and I am sure they are very interesting in concert, but I cannot really say the album has a lot of replay value.  Ultimately, I am not likely the target audience for this release.  I don't even know if Hot Topic still exists.