Among Legends – Take Good Care LP (Little Rocket Records / Sound Of Subterrania / Rad Girlfriend Records)

Here’s another great one sent by Graeme of Little Rocket Records. This vinyl record is a collab between the beforementioned record label, Sound of Subterrania, and Rad Girlfriend Records. I must admit I enjoyed Come Up Swinging, Monochrome, and Magnolia, three compositions this quintet shared on streaming platforms and social media ahead of the album release date. I featured all these tracks on Thoughts Words Action pages, if my memory serves me correctly, so do not hesitate to hit that search button and discover some excellent tunes by this band before they unleash their highly anticipated full-length. Among Legends and their brand new falbum deserve your utmost attention if you’re into contemporary melodic punk rock.

Take Good Care is more than solid proof these talented musicians are not joking around. The band has distilled this full-length album into thirteen wisely written, creatively composed, flawlessly performed, and professionally recorded tracks. You’ll realize what I am talking about as soon as you put the needle on this record. Among Legends nailed every song from scratch to finish, and there aren’t any weak spots here. Perhaps this record is a fine piece of contemporary pop-punk, but you’ll hear some old-school melodic punk rock maneuvers enclosed in some songs. Also, you know how some bands polish their sound to the max, so you don’t even have the impression you’re listening to a punk band. That’s not the case with Among Legends. There’s a dosage of grittiness, rawness, abrasiveness, and heaviness included in these songs. It is due to the high dosages of nearly fuzzy distortion coming straight from the British crunch amps. It’s just a guess, but it seems to my ears they have been using Marshalls, Orange amps, or something close to that while recording this melodic punk rock masterpiece.

The riffs are tight from scratch to finish, but there are equal amounts of melodies, harmonies, and themes. They serve as a perfect contrast to all the heaviness of the rhythm guitar. Also, it’s good to mention that the bass guitar is almost equally present in the mix. You’ll hear all the basslines rumbling through these songs and providing more than necessary support to both guitars and excellent drumming performance. And nothing would sound so profoundly dynamic, energetic, and heavy without the immense rhythmic maneuvers, beats, breaks, and continuous splashing over the cymbals. The lead vocalist’s performance serves another layer of melodies over the top, while the remainder of the band is backing up with harmonious singalongs. Everything perfectly matches together. Therefore, Among Legends nailed this release in my book. You can grab Take Good Care LP at Little Rocket Records (UK), Sounds Of Subterrania (DE), and Rad Girlfriend Records.