U.S. Legions

Okay the only point of this review is to deter people from getting sucked in and buying this album. I bought this for $2.99 at a used record store and upon listening to it the whole way through, I became infuriated and felt that I had been robbed. I blame myself, it's my own stupidity for not realizing what this is. U.S. Legions is nothing more than a guise to make money off of a name.

There is nothing of any redeeming quality on this album. The live tracks are played decently, Blasphemer's guitar is loud and up front right where it needs to be. I don't have a problem with his playing he does a good job. Hellhammer's drums sound awful. The whole kit is triggered and the whole time this is playing all you hear is CLICK CLICK CLICK. His toms sound like plastic tubs being whacked with sticks.

Maniac's voice is as annoying as ever, he really is the worst vocalist Mayhem ever had. He sounds like a cat being thrown into a fireplace. Maniac's clean singing is fucking horrible, he sounds like a second rate Marilyn Manson wannabe. Thanks to the production Necrobutcher's bass has been almost completely buried beneath the wall of guitars.

The set list is the usual stuff full of cuts from, Wolf's Lair Abyss, Deathcrush, and Pure Fucking Armageddon,. There are a couple of songs from the abortion that was Grand Declaration of War included too. The band seems to mail in their performance here, even the crowd doesn't seem that into it. That rock jam thing that Hellhammer and Blasphemer do in the beginning of “Chainsaw Gutsfuck' is a sacrilege, it's totally unnecessary.

I am amazed that nothing from the seminal De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas album made it into the set list. I mean, at least play 'Freezing Moon'. Also, there is no 'Deathcrush' either. Those two songs are staples in their live set and there omission just makes this album that much more useless.

Now, put onto the end of the live set are a few pre-production tracks from the Grand Declaration of War sessions. This is what made me purchase this album in the first place. See, I thought that maybe these songs would be different than the songs that made it onto the album. Nope, damn I can be such an idiot sometimes. These songs are exactly the same, it's just that the production is a lot more muffled.

This is probably the most useless CD I have in my collection. Mayhem has released way better live albums. Take for instance classics like, Dawn of the Black Hearts, Live in Zeitz, and Live in Leipzig. Even Mediolanum Capta Est are way better than this trash. I guess if your a completest than your going to pick this up. Otherwise avoid this like the plague.