The cover to THE BLACK LEGACY's debut album tells you everything you can possibly expect for their debut album. The Italian four-piece - complete with what I have to assume are all stage names for the members - includes Die as lead vocalist, Alberto T on guitar, M. Pepper on bass and Joe Von Taine on drums and they have modeled themselves after BLACK SABBATH and BLACK LABEL SOCIETY in both sound and look. Heavily clad in the biker uniform of leather jackets and sunglasses, the band formed in 2018 in Milan and started to begin work on their first album in the summer of 2019. Von Taine speaks of his desire "to deliver a dark, intense sound, smash the audience with a wall of heavy riffs, and ultimately to take no prisoners. So, saddle up your iron horse and come the Legacy!"

Other bands that have a similarity in sound would be QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE and even tinges of LED ZEPPELIN but don't expect much of the soft side of the latter showing through. These guys are pure biker, stoner metal, heavily steeped in crunchy guitar riffs and pentatonic-focused, blues-based, heavily gained solos. The best way to describe it is just pure down and dirty hard rock 'n' roll. There sound is heavily groove-oriented as well, especially on second single "Endless Roads" with a main riff that would sound perfect on a DOWN record. Unfortunately, next track "Fire and Stone" seems like just a continuation of the previous and by now the groove has become tedious. It does have a nice wah-wah solo that saves it a bit. "My Last Day" sounds like a more modern BLACK SABBATH track with better singing. But the main riff of "Dying Every Night" sounds like a sludgier version of the one from "Sex Type Thing" by STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and not even just a subtle nod. Though "Queen of Green Hill" does seem them dip a little in southern rock territory but not much.

Truthfully, the cover of this album - featuring a leather-garbed skeleton under classic pyschadelia- inspired typography of the band name - should tell you everything you need to know about whether or not to give this group a shot. Blatantly showing off their influences and not really offering much new to the genre, if you like biker-inspired stoner/doom/groove metal, you will find yourself slowly banging your head along with the riffage. I have seen some criticism towards Die's singing but I think it's a shining star on an otherwise run-of the mill hard rock record. He has the grit of a James Hetfield at times but can hit the high notes that a Ronnie James Dio could, so I give him props. It would be nice if on their next record they could shake things up track by track instead of sticking with a dragging 60-70 bpm tempo nearly throughout the record.