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Metalcore mob The Legion:Ghost claim to be “what modern metal sounds like”. If that’s true then metal hasn’t moved very far in the last 10 years. Real modern metal innovates and sadly there’s little sign of progressive thinking behind With Courage Of Despair. It’s lucky that their choice of genre has appeal; throaty screams, breakdowns, triggered riffs and vocal melodies release the inner metal beast and when it clicks, especially on the bludgeoning The Counterweight, these Germans sound impressively tight. But using a rinse-and-repeat formula, their platter of uninspiring albeit well-produced love letters to Soilwork and Trivium with angry lyrics about the media and personal issues reminds us of something we already know: modern life can be hard. But modern life is also built on ingenuity and With Courage Of Despair is not.

With over 10 years’ experience writing for Metal Hammer and Prog, Holly has reviewed and interviewed a wealth of progressively-inclined noise mongers from around the world. A fearless voyager to the far sides of metal Holly loves nothing more than to check out London’s gig scene, from power to folk and a lot in between. When she’s not rocking out Holly enjoys being a mum to her daughter Violet and working as a high-flying marketer in the Big Smoke.