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From the depths of the Denver, Colorado's underground scene once came a furious and violent Hardcore/Thrash Metal act called Legion Of Death. The band gained cult status with a handful of demos and one self-released 8-track album, released between 1985 and 1989, before they ceased to exist. The band's debut demo, Have a Violent Death, released in 1985, received a lot of praise among the tape traders around the world.

Legion Of Death re-formed 2010 and, among the many ideas they had, decided to re-record the band's self-titled debut album, from 1988, with a better, modern sound. The re-release of the debut also achieved cult status among underground metal maniacs, but since the release was limited to 1000 copies, it's really hard, if not impossible to come across a copy of it nowadays.

Condemned to Hell is the title of Legion of Death's re-issue of their debut and includes several additional demo tracks. The album sounds much heavier and clearer than it did originally but with the lack of John "Death" Gottschalk's vocal input, the band's original singer, one gets the strange feeling that something is missing. John's Hardcore vocals were an integral part of Legion of Death's sound back in the day, giving the band's sound extra viciousness and aggressiveness. Len Leal (also in Cephalic Carnage), who has taken John's place on vocals, is a Death Metal growler and that has a huge impact on the band's sound. You need to get used to his voice first before you can accept his low death grunts as a part of the 2014 version of Legion Of Death. Despite this, the raw and straightforward mix of Thrash, Hardcore and Death Metal still seems to have the power to appeal to a lot of people, at least those familiar with the band since the underground tape-trading days. On Condemned to Hell the band still rages, just like the old days, but with a more Death Metal approach this time around.

Classic stuff is always classic stuff. Nothing can kill it and it's good to see this band alive and kicking again.