For Young Legionnaire those involved alone should be enough to grab your attention. Formed from the ashes of art rockers yourcodenameis:milo, The Automatic and indie superstars Bloc Party, long time collaborators Paul Mullen and Gordon Moakes return with ‘Zero Worship’, a second full-length offering and career high for all involved.
Music is art, at least it is when you’re Young Legionnaire. For only a three-piece, ‘Zero Worship’ offers so much. Weird time signatures synonymous with Mullen’s career to date, thunderous bass, incredibly thoughtful and complimentary drums and guitar riffs a plenty feature throughout. Beautiful and complicated yet sparse and haunting every moment of ‘Zero Worship’ lands perfectly.
Album opener ‘Year Zero’ is a more than fitting introduction if you are unfamiliar with the trio. This kicks into the wrecking ball that is ‘Heart Attack’, something to really get your teeth into. Latest single ‘Candidate’ and the powerful ‘Sawn-Off Shotgun’ showcase Young Legionnaire’s clear talents and creative, out-of-the-box mentality while Mullen’s vocals stand out as always on tracks like ‘You and Me’.
Unconventional but again complimentary. That is a word that can be used to describe a lot of what Young Legionnaire are trying to achieve. Every bit of instrumentation, every synth, backing vocal, ambient noise or full fuzzed flurry compliment each other weaving something altogether greater than the sum of its parts.
‘Zero Worship’ may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but that’s true of most of what’s to offer in today’s music landscape. Although Young Legionnaire’s fan base may be small, it adds to the magic of finding a band that you can cherish, making music that may not be heard by masses but will speak volumes to the dedicated and for those people this could be one of the highlights of the year.
4/5
‘Zero Worship’ by Young Legionnaire is out now on Superstar Destroyer Records.
Young Legionnaire links: Facebook|Twitter
Words by Jay Harrison @Just_Jay_89
