He Is Legend – It Hates You

He Is Legend have always primarily been a hardcore band with southern rock tendencies, but 2006′s Suck Out the Poison took those tendencies and made a full album out of them.  Most people rejected the offering for multiple reasons; it was a lackluster (and lighter) follow-up to the band’s landmark effort, 2004′s I Am Hollywood, and vocalist Schuylar Croom pussed out and went a little softer on his vocal chords.  But not all hated the record; some felt it was an interesting shift for the band, and moreso, it helped the band fit into the same cluster of bands lead by Every Time I Die and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.

It seems that with It Hates You, the band was unhappy with their last full-length as well.  Not only does the new effort feel like the logical follow up to I Am Hollywood, but they have dropped the southern feel almost entirely.  In fact, a lot of the record has a gritty stoner rock vibe going on.  “Don’t Touch That Dial” sounds like a track from the first Queens of the Stone Age record, and the band let their inner-Torche loose with “That’s Nasty”, the heaviest (and just about the catchiest) song the band has ever done. He Is Legend take it a bit further by complimenting the heaviness with infectious choruses – a trick they must have learned from their cover of Third Eye Blind‘s “Wounded”.  The band wear their influences on their sleeves, but manage not to let that alter their sound drastically.  In fact, the overall sound that arises on It Hates You feels and sounds refreshingly original – something that is missing not only in this genre, but in all of music.

Additionally, “China White III” is a welcomed acoustic addition to the trilogy and songs like “Cult of She” and “Dicephalous” still have that trademark southern swagger in spots.  It is interesting to note that two songs are right around the seven-minute mark. You wouldn’t expect a band like He Is Legend to succeed with longer track lengths, but “Stranger Danger” and “Mean Shadows” are  some of the band’s best songs to date.

A lot of He Is Legend fans are about to breathe a huge sigh of relief.  It is fair to say that the band have learned from their mistakes (even though Suck Out the Poison wasn’t that bad).  It Hates You feels like the result of the band going back to their old sound and making it heavier and more rounded – and the results couldn’t be better.  As Schuylar says in “Party Time”, He Is Legend are back “on [their] winning streak”.

(8.4/10)

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