They are Legend

Ever wonder if the music industry is really dying from illegal downloading, or if it’s just crap music that’s made us so jaded that we don’t want to spend our hard earned money on 12 tracks of heartless drivel?

Luckily, there are still bands that put forth the effort.

He Is Legend’s third major release, “It Hates You,” suggests something sinister and heavy, but that’s what makes it so damn lovable. There’s nothing like a band actually progressing with each album to make music interesting again.

He Is Legend made their major label debut on Solid State Records with “I Am Hollywood,” earning them a legion of hardcore fans. When all the breakdowns were replaced by bluesy, ballsy rock n roll on 2006’s “Suck out the Poison,” critics began to finally take notice and their core fans were dumbfounded. That album separated the music fans from the I-just-want-to-mosh-to-loud-music naysayers, and with the arrival of “It Hates You,” there are bound to be even more heads rolling. You’ve got to give the Wilmington, North Carolina natives some credit though.

They have massive musical “marbles.”

The opening track, “Dicephalous,” lures you in and amps you up immediately. The ominous lyrics are true to the bands style: “Don’t think for a minute / That you’re getting a way with it. / Holy roller, hellish bandit / we’ve caught you red handed.”

Singer Schuylar Croom has always had a knack for storytelling. His lyrics often paint a picture so clear, you can almost point out the literary references. Previously released as a demo, “Everybody I know Has Fangs” is equipped with fierce guitars that will eat you whole and an undeniable chorus with a sci-fi tinge.

Enjoy the breakdown on that one, kids.

“China White III” offers an incredibly striking juxtaposition from the rest of the album with its slow tempo and Croom’s haunting vocals against subdued guitars. It’s bluesy and beautiful.

It seems that the more this band breathes, the more relaxed they become.Overall, they end up creating an album that represents them to the fullest. By now, He Is Legend fans should know enough not to have expectations but to just appreciate each album as its own creature.

This one is a gorgeous monster.