Legion

If Deicide’s first album defined death metal, their second album supercharged it. Impossibly fast tempos, headspinning arrangements, just plain evil guitar tones…when somebody like bassist and vocalist Glen Benton labels an album “***kin’ over the top,” you know where you’re headed (if you said hell you’re getting warm) when you insert the needle into this Legion’s vinyl vein. As always with this band, holding the barely controlled chaos together is drummer Steve Asheim, whose double kick BPM approaches 4 digits amidst guitar squalls from the Hoffman brothers. The material on Legion has stood the test of time, too, with “Trifixion” and “Dead but Dreaming” enduring fan favorites. Indeed, Legion (which, along with their self-titled debut, is one of the best-selling death metal records ever) is reckoned by many to be Deicide’s best album; it’s certainly their most brutal. Remastered for the format and pressed in metallic “rainbow inferno” vinyl, complete with a highly flammable lyric insert.