TOP FIVE HE IS LEGEND ALBUMS

He Is Legend is a band that’s truly done things their own way, and we are all the better for it. Their willingness to experiment and continue to evolve their sound over their multi-decade career has produced consistently-excellent results and numerous delightful surprises. On this Top Five, we’ll take a look at the impressive and diverse catalogue of the seminal Wilmington, North Carolina band.

5. Few (2017)

He Is Legend really leaned into the 90s alternative rock on this crowd-sourced LP; while not altogether abandoning their metalcore foundation, this is probably their least metal offering. The rule with He Is Legend is generally to expect the unexpected, and there are some twists and turns in here as well. As opposed to some of the other albums we’ll explore below, it is when they are at their most straight-forward this time around, though, that they are at their best. The first three songs—"Air Raid," "Sand," and "Beaufort"—are the strongest for me.

4. Endless Hallway (2022)

Endless Hallway has much more of a modern metalcore, djent-inspired riffing approach, the other side of the coin to their first full-length I Am Hollywood and what was for that time a modern metalcore approach. The bouncier "Time’s Fake" and the soaring melody about half-way through "Circus Circus" are particular highlights here, but the entire LP is strong.

3. Suck Out the Poison (2006)

This was the band’s first left turn, and it alienated a lot of their core fans. It was, however, a massive leveling-up as He Is Legend played more to their rootsier rock n roll strengths and vocalist Schuyler Croom’s whiskey-and-gravel singing, in this case going all-in on the Southern-fried sound that was sweeping metalcore at that time. This is to me a top-three Southern metalcore album, a masterwork of this flavor of the genre (you can check out the Southern metalcore albums draft here where we go deep into the sound). The record flows seamlessly front-to-back with no skips and is one of what I would say are three classic albums in their catalogue. There are riffs for days on this one—not riff salad, either, but rather killer riffs in the service of catchy and memorable songs that have a true rock n roll sensibility. There is also some dabbling in experimentation, particularly in terms of adding a certain atmosphere or "vibe" if you will to the proceedings.

2. White Bat (2019)

White Bat felt like it came out of left field after Heavy Fruit and Few when it seemed like He Is Legend was becoming more or less a straight rock band. The opening track "White Bat" quickly disabuses the listener of that notion; throughout the album, the strategic incorporation of that heaviness adds a dimension to what is also some of the band’s most melodic song-writing (see: "Skin So Soft" for example). Like Suck Out the Poison, this is a record that runs front to back with no skips and, indeed, is best enjoyed in that manner. It also re-visits the strange lyrical preoccupation with eye teeth (sort of like Clutch with the dogs), exemplifying the often twisted humor that is a recurrent feature on the band’s albums. Whether at their loudest and heaviest ("Boogiewoman") or some of the quieter moments like "Uncanny Valley," this is a special album that showcases a band operating at the height of their powers. It’s really a kind of 1B to the next selection’s 1A.

1. It Hates You (2009)

This was not the album I wanted after Suck Out the Poison, and truthfully I did not like it at all at the time. I have, obviously, come around to appreciate what a masterpiece it is and it is a credit to the band that they did not simply do Suck Out the Poison 2.0, instead really experimenting with different elements and expanding their sonic palette dramatically. There are moments on this album that are as heavy as anything they’ve done, such as the ending of "Everyone I Know Has Fangs," and as catchy as anything they’ve done, such as "Cult of She." "That’s Nasty" is the best of both worlds, exploring melody while also being crushingly heavy, both aspects seamlessly integrated. Other highlights include the soulful female vocal counter-point to Croom’s vocals in "Party Time!," the uneasy atmosphere meets catchiness of "Future’s Bright Man," and the sonic sister track of "That’s Nasty" in album closer "Mean Shadow." It Hates You is a sonically mature and layered record that rewards the listener on repeat listens as well. I can’t say enough good things about not just the ambition but the contents and the execution. This and the two albums above especially showcase why He Is Legend is the "He" (or "they" more appropriately) in "He Is Legend." A great and criminally underappreciated band.