'Legion' is a melodic death metal product created by John Huber; a songwriter, composer and horror author from Hallock, Minnesota. It is a one man metal assault. It's heavy handed creator makes no bones about that after the subtle 'Sepulcher' gives way to the behemoth thunder of 'Scarecrow.' So strap in. Legion's epic first offering, "Black Rose," lives happily in the darker, sharper side of melodic death metal with infectious grooves laid throughout. The instrumentals are entirely composed and written by John himself, as well as the lyrics. To top it off, he is also one beast of a front man. As a songwriter, he does not disappoint. The epic sprawl of his structures are stories and journeys into the harrowing pits of hell and humanic pain. The tracks all wrench forth tortured melodies unto themselves, each like a building and arching story that leads flawlessly into the next. The instrumentals are matched in brimming emotion only by John's guttural howls that sound as if every coarse grunt and banshee shriek comes from his deepest bellows, the darkest places of twisted personal pain. Simply, he lets loose every croak and word as if his life depended on it. As the listener is assaulted by the stoic possession of each track, you get the feeling that the songs themselves are as much therapy as they are precise calculations on everything from tortured wedding vows, the nature of God, stark vengeance and sinister symphonic poetry that reaches for the cosmos. It does not disappoint in any of these aspects. Do not look for the traditional dual leads, though.The duet song birds crooning to one another about the angst of their love has no place here. You won't find any of these things. What you will find is a pit, deep and cavernous, full of smiling, wretched and tortured spirits . . . the spirits that cry within us, yearning to be free. The spirits within us, in the depths of our most primal emotions of hatred, anger and love that have no beautiful song, but rather, those spirits as "skeleton angels" with a "tortured symphony of screams" as Huber rips out his throat on the mammoth cut 'Scarecrow.' For anyone in disbelief, they need only lose themselves in the savage and infectious cuts like 'Hourglass" and 'Coffin Nails.' Or, the chilling and beautiful haunts like 'Road of Bones,' the apocalyptic 'Beneath Seven' and breathtaking 'Dollmaker.' Tracks like these give an uneasy feeling to the listener that the author might sport a half-sinister smile as the hairs raising on your arms give way to gooseflesh. P.S. Rallies the likes of "Cathedral of Skin" have the searing, stampeding thrash heat the likes of a new-age Slayer. Then, of course, there is the simply fantastic, epic, entrancing and downright gorgeous 'Black Rose.' That song, in itself, is everything the album achieves. Healing in black, the beauty in the shadows, the easy fingers of the demons that held you when no one else would. It is how true metal battalions write a ballad, a 17-minute sprawl of truly singing the blues, even if the voice is Huber's pained and stark growl. Albums like this don't come around often, let alone from one man. The kind of album that can only be written from a true place of suffering, withering human experience, the sort of pain that makes the listener wonder what had to have happened to inspire such gothic and tortured, yet beautiful, songwriting. 'Black Rose' is metal poetry at its finest with massive structures, thick layering, and artistic execution from top to bottom. It is a metal opera if such a thing could exist. **All music and lyrics written by John Huber **All vocals performed by John Huber **Produced and mixed by Michael Schilling From John: To my wife, my biggest fan, thank you. To Justin Spoor who believed in my abilities long before I did, thank you. To Ty Bommersbach for checking your phone when I was drunk at 12:31 A.M., thank you. To Michael Schilling who is a man of great practicality, precision and wisdom, many many thanks. To everyone who buys this record . . . thank you so much for letting me attempt to entertain you. The roses are for you all and they, as well as this record, would not exist without you.