Search - Saviour Machine :: Legend Pt. 2

Saviour Machine's Finest (So Far)

Crypt | Arkham | 09/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Behold, the horrifying evidence; the sequence of Prophetic Events..."



Amazon describes Saviour Machine as "Christian Metal." This is very limiting and quite inaccurate when describing this band. One listen to Legend 2 and you'll see why. When you think of "Christian Metal" you might think of Stryper or Whitecross, Narnia or Extol. Something fitting in the Hard Rock/Metal category. Although they've usually had Metal influence in their music, Saviour Machine has never recorded anything close to a straight-forward rock album since their debut in 1993. That one came *a little* close. Legend 2 is a Darkwave/Gothic Opera that blends together many different influences and ends up something closer to Peter Gabriel's "Passion" meets The Sisters of Mercy meets Lisa Gerard than any Metal band out there. Lyrically, though they come from a Christian perspective, they have always been far too brutal, honest and sincere in their critiques of modern society, politics, institutionalized religion and fundamentalism. They have dared to bring art and creativity back to Christianity and so they've become outcasts in the Christian Contemporary scene. The band's highly theatrical stage show involving fire, blood, chains and heavy symbolism didn't help either. However they've gone on to conquer the European secular scene.



Back to Legend 2... The music fits the concept. This is a reflection of Mankind's darkest hour; a new Dark Age, as forecast in various Biblical Prophetic verse, particularly in the book of Revelation. The rise of the Antichrist, The Beast 666, and The Whore of Babylon is portrayed in a controversially frank way which really brings to life the horror and chaos of our prophesied future. The music is equally dark, chaotic and horrifying. The Middle-Eastern influence is more prevalent than before, but there is also a Wagnerian, dark grandeur to the music as well. Add to this a futuristic, Electro-Industrial, Cyber-Tribal element. This would almost work as a soundtrack to the most epic, most frightening sci-fi horror film ever made. But it's not all terror. In songs like The Promise, The Bride of Christ and Rapture, God speaks to His people and comforts them; promising a great victory. This is some of the most poignant, tear-jerking music Saviour Machine has ever written. However, the album ends with War In Heaven; a grim warning about the spiritual nature of the Human Condition. "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against Principalities..." and is one of the creepiest, doomiest songs in the SM catalog.



The story is continued in Legend 3:1, a considerably more accessible album, but no less powerful. We now await Legend 3:2, which may prove to be Saviour Machine's greatest achievement. To see where the story began, check out Legend 1. And don't hesitate to experience SM's first two records for some scathing social, political and religious commentary, as well as very intimate and personal reflections.

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Dark, overwhelming and definately my fave...

Niels van der Plas | The Netherlands | 06/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"LEGEND II is in my opinion Saviour Machine's best release so far... In fact, LEGEND II is my all time favourite album! From start to end (all 79.30 minutes(!)) this cd is dark, heavy, depressing and yet hopeful, overwhelming ands so detailed... More than any other release of Saviour Machine is LEGEND II symphonic...

Immagine this great cathedral with in the center a stage on which this rock band stands and in the circle around them this great orchestra with violins, fluits, horns and great percussion and an enormous choir! And the ceiling and the walls of the cathedral are painted with dragons, beasts of all sorts, storms and oceans, wars of angels and demons and suddenly all comes to live! That's the feeling I have when listening to LEGEND II...

The songs are detailed, Eric's operatic voice is dramatic, emotional and sounds full of despair, hope, anger, wrath...

I guess you have to hear it before you'll believe it...



The covenant is a great album-opener... It starts slow, but soon the song is getting faster and getting overwhelming... The whore of babylon is almost aggressive... The following four songs form in fact one musical unit: the highly symphonic False prophet, more guitars in the Mark of the Beast and finally the climax in The Antichrist II: how I love the desperate voice of Eric when he calls out: 'at the time of the end the king of the south will attack, and the king of the north will come with his armies cursed to fall. I will annihilate them all and their flesh be consumed from their bones, and their eyes be dissolved in their heads and the tongues from the mouths of the dead will scream in silent horror of defeat!'



The second half of the album is less harsh than the first and speaks of hope and promises... But then when the last song falls in the dark athmosphere continues... A great song about the fallen angel with this huge choir at the end! Awesome!



I can only recommend this album to you... I'm sure it's the best you've ever heard!"

What a shock! It's actually good!

Matthew J.P. | Somewhere, OR. U.S.A. | 03/06/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Yesterday, after eating far too much food, I sleepily wandered into my brother's old room (which has been kept vacant even after his departure to college) and looked through his old CDs he left behind. Sure enough, I found this surprisingly good "Christian, rock opera". It's no classic, mind you, but it's one hell (can I say that in a review about a Christian album?) of a lot better then anything A System of a Down could ever produce or compose.



The first reason this second-part-of-a-trilogy works so well is that its concept (yes, it is a Christian concept album) is based upon an already confusing concept (the final chapters of the Bible concerning the rapture). So, Saviour Machine can make their album as complex as they want, and it still won't be as confusing as the Bible's story. Instead of taking a simple concept and adding to it for an album (such as David Bowie's ZIGGY STARDUST), Saviour Machine does just the opposite: they take an extremely confusing story and simplify it for an album release. But, even Eric Clayton (main lyricist and singer for Saviour Machine) couldn't dumb the concept down enough for a commercial release: with end-time, paranoid lyrics like, "On the wing of abominations, shall be one who makes desolate, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands..," one is left to wonder what in God's holy name is going on inside the album (or inside Clayton's crazy head). Now, I am a definite lover of the complex, but this album is not only over MY head, it's probably over ERIC CLAYTON'S head. He probably heard it in Sunday-School and then developed upon it incredibly during some sleep-deprived work-session as a janitor at the church he attends regularly.



I am also a lover of the creepy and deranged (check out my other reviews), and this album hits the bill nicely (but not perfectly). I was hoping for some eerily chilling, first-person narrative of the Antichrist himself, and NOT in Clayton's voice. I was hoping (and, by the end of the album, praying) for some Skinny-Puppy-esque screeches through distortion microphones or something along those lines. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by the liberal use of guitars and keyboards that clanged around mathematically amongst the opera-echo that is Eric Clayton's voice.



The booklet creeps the hell out of me, as well. Tiny drawings of the Whore of Babylon, the Antichrist, and insignificant earthlings facing impending doom lay underneath the dastardly confusing lyrics, and the whole package is as chilling as could be expected by a Christian concept album about the Antichrist himself.



It may be a stretch, but I'm feeling generous (and sympathetic towards Eric Clayton who, after realizing the fact that his trilogy bombed horribly in the U.S. market, probably went back to being a janitor at the local community church he attends), so I'm going to give this album 4 out of a possible 5 stars. It's one of the best (if not, the best) Christian albums I've ever heard, but it still probably won't find it's way into my CD player for another year or two. Is LEGEND PART 2 worth the import price? Absolutely not. Is it decent enough to buy used or in a second-hand store? Absolutely.

"