Review by Michael on September 5, 2021.

Polish Iscariota have released their fifth album named Legenda in 2020. I have to confess that this is another one of these bands I've never heard of before. So, I'll tell you a little bit more about my exploration of this release.

The first look of course was at the cover, where you can see an old guardian or sorcerer (who reminds me a little of the Nazgul in LOTR) who is sitting at the entrance to a deserted cemetery. It is a quite nice artwork which let me expect some epic or power metal as music. But I got totally wrong on that. What the Polish quartet is playing can be compared best to newer Nevermore or Control Denied. The voice reminds me a little bit of James Hetfield though. The songs are played in a very modern style (sometime more groove, sometimes more thrash and always with a touch of classic heavy metal in it) and the production is very clear and powerful. You can hear that the guys really can play their instruments, the arrangements of the tracks are really cool. You can find a lot of breaks and hooks so that you get a lot of surprises while listening to Legenda. Most of the tracks are fast paced, only two tracks are different from the rest, 'Nie Pytaj Mnie' and 'Lodowa Mgła' are two nice ballads.

What makes it a little bit difficult to listen to the album is the fact that singer Piotr Piecak is using his mother tongue. Don't get me wrong, I like Polish language, but it is a little bit clipped and bulky in these tracks. But they did it on their previous albums too so I guess it would be hard to explain why to switch into English after all these years. Maybe the singer should sing a little bit more melodic like the guys from Turbo do when they sing in Polish. But after some rounds listening to the album, I have to say, I don't care much about that anymore because most of the tracks are convincing though. Remarkable tracks are 'Nie Jestem Nikim Szczególnym', 'Jestem Bogiem' and 'Rodzinny Grób'.

If you like thrash / heavy metal with a slight modern touch and, as I already said, if you liked the last three Nevermore albums or Control Denied, you should give Legenda a listen. My guess is, you won't be disappointed!

Rating: 7.8 out of 10