J-Man Of Legends is essentially a one-man project (minus the drumming) from Luis Dubuc; a name you may recognize as the leader of electronica outfit The Secret Handshake. He may be an unlikely candidate to chalk up a groove-based metalcore album, but that's exactly what he's done with Stranded - and he does it quite well. Of Legends' debut outing is an album filled with impressive musicianship, catchy riffs, and raw-delivered vocals. The (almost exclusively) groove-based riffs on Stranded can become a bit monotonous, but the positives end up ultimately outweighing the detriments on this impressive debut effort.

Of Legends plays a style of metalcore based heavily on groovy, djent-influenced downtuned riffing. The vast majority of Stranded sounds like what most metalcore acts would save for a "breakdown" section - blast beats and extremely fast guitar riffs are seldom utilized here. I hear a bit of sludge metal in here as well, but I wouldn't consider it a dominant style. Unfortunately, the music does lose a bit of its power halfway through. The constant groovy riffs are quite amusing at first, but don't quite allow for enough variation in the music - there's a reason why most metalcore acts save these sections exclusively for breakdowns. I guess Luis Dubuc will have to find a way to make more memorable compositions using this style - I really do appreciate his original approach to writing metalcore. In addition to Luis Dubuc (who handles guitar, bass, and vocals), Of Legends also contains Travis Orbin (Periphery, Sky Eats Airplane). He's, of course, a great drummer and the musicianship is excellent across the board. The production is also polished, but never crosses into "over-produced" territory. Stranded has a production that absolutely fits its style.

Though this one (or two) man act still has some work to do in the composition department, they've really created a kick-ass debut with Stranded. If groovy metalcore is your thing, I have no doubt that this one is a mandatory purchase. My own subjective point of view is a bit less favorable, though, so I'll rest with a 3-3.5 star rating. Of Legends is an up-and-coming group with admirable chops and a knack for writing irresistibly groovy riffs - let's hope they can take it even a step further next time!

Time Signature False god...

Genre: groovy metalcore

Luis Dubuc, the main man of Of Legends, is perhaps best known for his work with the electronica project The Secret Handshake. There's no electronica on this album, though, as Of Legends' style is groovy and heavy metalcore - with the occasional blastbeat section.

There are ups and downs to this album. On the upside are the many insanely heavy and groovy riffs. I mean, fans of heavy breakdowns should love this stuff, because every song basically consists completely of the type of riffs that many metalcore bands reserve for their breakdowns. Another upside is the crisp and well defined, but not too polished production, which serves the groovy riffs really well (I tend to prefer high production values with groovy metal, so the rhythmic details of the groovy riffs are not drowned in fuzz.

The downside ti this album is that it becomes kind of monotonous very quickly, because a lot of the tracks are very similar to one another (but this, of course, means that whenever Of Legends do something different, it really stands out - such as the punky riff in the middle of "Consecro"). It's not that the music is bad or anything, "Stranded" is just one of the albums where it is best to listen to a couple of songs at the time.

I think that fans of heavy and groovy metalcore and perhaps even sludge metal will like this album; in particular, it should appeal to fans of the likes of The Psyke Project.