Legionary Never-Ending Quest For Purpose Review

Legionary

Never-Ending Quest For Purpose

Self-Released

2026

New Jersey melodic death/thrashers Legionary have an interesting history. They initially started in NYC, and throughout their existence they've released several EPs and once played live quite regularly. Nowadays, main man and the brainchild of the band, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and founder Frank D'Erasmo, usually goes it alone while enlisting some A-list players for the studio. His latest effort, the five-song Never-Ending Quest For Purpose, follows suit from the previous outing Prison Realm.

The first thing I noticed when listening is that the production is top-notch, crisp, clean, and polished. Engineer Ben Karas, along with mixing and mastering by Mike Low, really did a great job here and made the band sound huge yet organic. However, it's not all on them. I feel this has as much to do with the caliber of the players as it does with studio trickery, compressing, or quantizing. The whole thing is absolutely modern in its presentation, but I feel these are all real performances without the aid of any shortcuts or trickery. Another pleasant surprise is that even though it falls into the extreme metal spectrum, the bass, held down admirably and creatively by D’Erasmo, is way more audible than most music of this ilk. His drumming is incredibly proficient and technical as well, and his double kicks and forays into blast beats are tight and concise. Joining Frank here are returning members Chris Clancy (As I Lay Dying, Invictus, Mutiny Within) on vocals and lead guitarist Tony Barhoum (Chaos Sanctuary, Condition Critical). Like I said, some heavy hitters here rounding out the lineup.

We get just five songs here, but they make every one of them count. The first track, “Sentenced to a Life of Chronic Guilt,” is a raging instrumental that shifts from tech death to metalcore to thrashy power metal within its two minutes and fourteen seconds. Straight away from that comes “The Judges Become the Judged,” which has a decided thrash edge via metalcore, with a fantastic clean-sung chorus that recalls prime The End of Heartache-era Killswitch Engage. Here the riffs are technical yet accessible, and the lead guitar work is just impeccable. I also thoroughly enjoy the mid-paced bridge/outro, which alternates between Clancy’s pristine cleans and anguished growls.

Following that, a clean guitar intro backed by harmonized guitars sways into a swinging chugfest on the title track and more double bass drumming and d-beat thrash than is probably legal. I'm not saying it's a “formula” here, but I notice that they employ another cleanly sung melodic section before going back to the bludgeoning and then bringing it back around again. It's been done to death, right? Yes, but what sets Legionary apart from the 7.8 million bands employing a similar approach is that these sections serve as but a brief respite. It's almost like they are harboring a split personality that teeters from all-out rage to melancholic self-reflection.

Speaking of self-reflection, lyrically it seems these songs touch on a variety of topics, whether they are introspective or somewhat social and vaguely political, which is sort of par for the course for stuff like this. It's refreshing to hear after the usual blood, guts, zombies, demons, and Satan stuff that usually permeates anything remotely resembling death metal. “Controllers of Perception” is a blasting, tech-infused fire-breather with snaking riffs and another sublime melodic chorus.

Lastly, they flex their prog muscles on the closer, beginning with the forlorn intro of “Story Without Closure,” which morphs into a mid-paced staccato riff and some Schuldiner-inspired guitar lines. We're dealing with a pretty angry vibe here until 3:40, where Clancy again graces us with those superb cleans. Then a clean guitar section, complete with some downright jazzy, Skolnick-like leads, crashes into another heavy section. From there, the song seems to build, going from riff to riff with time-signature changes aplenty, then back to that melodic chorus and bookended by more clean guitars and a violin solo to cap it off. A real testament to their ability to keep things interesting is the fact that this song is 11:39 in length but never gets tiresome and keeps you engaged with the constant build-ups.

There we have it, dear reader. Legionary may not be for everyone, and they are mining soundscapes that have surely been heavily picked over in the last two decades, but they do it in such a way that they offer their own approach while sounding familiar all at once. I, for one, am highly impressed, and I hope Never-Ending Quest For Purpose nets them some bigger visibility and critical praise. Most importantly, I hope they keep at it—the genre they reside in needs more forward-thinking music like this.

-TB

RIYL -Kreator, Iced Earth, Into Eternity, Mutiny Within, Control Denied, Death, Unearthed