Chicago-based LEGACY BLACK began as two separate musical ideas that eventually decided to coalesce into one. Guitarist/vocalist Clint Davis, drummer Juan Cardenas, and keyboardist/vocalist Joyce Jenkins wrote songs for several months but their lineup would only become complete in late summer 2016 with the addition of bassist Donovan Torres. A couple more months of writing and rehearsing resulted in their live debut locally in November 2016. 3 years followed in which they cut their teeth playing live shows and even opening for several larger international bands such as ANGRA, THE GRAHAM BONNET BAND, and EVERGREY. They were fortunate enough to self-release their self-titled debut album in July of 2019 and are finally officially releasing it through label NO DUST RECORDS. With this release they hope to branch out and tour nationally and hopefully farther.

They take inspirations from many different genres but are certainly more hard rock and heavy metal. The very first track is a perfectly suitable opener if I was expecting a straight-up hard rock release. Title track, "Legacy Black" has really strong RAINBOW vibes, hinging around a singular riff that is repeated throughout nearly the entire song. Unfortunately, Davis is no Ronnie James Dio but he does a suitable job sounding a bit David Coverdale-ish and loves to ham it up quite a bit in many of the track, adding grit and meat to a track that may be pretty dull otherwise. They get a bit more adventurous on "While All Along", opening with acapella, harmonized voices and piano ala QUEEN's "Bohemian Rhapsody". The mix of the elements is a bit uneven until the guitar distorts, it sounds as though the piano and voice is fighting for sonic superiority.

"Mary" lets Black really ham it up with an almost comical gravel to his voice but it shows them opening up even more. Lots of dissonance and time shifting to be had here, satisfying the progressive side of fans. "Current State" is another track seemingly out of place. It features a keyboard patch that sounds like something from a smooth jazz album but shows Black's vocal range going into the stratosphere - a welcome moment - and some really nice interplay with Jenkins' vocals even if the production muffles her words a bit. "The Winter of my Discontent" is meant to be their album ending epic but regretfully falls flat, sounding as if they wanted to cram all their leftover riffs from old demo tapes and patch them together, complete with a disregard for adherence to the track's overall tempo, shifting sharply between each section.

When I first listened through this, I really enjoyed myself. I was banging my head and humming the melodies. Unfortunately, my second listen through revealed a lot of issues. I've already touched on Davis' sometimes campy vocal stylings but it would be much more enjoyable if he just sang straight. Keyboards, minus a few exceptions, are absolutely buried in the mix. Guitar solos mainly follow a vocal line or riff, rarely go anywhere interesting and sometimes just trail off into squealing feedback. Almost every rhythmic or tempo shift is abrupt, unexpected and poorly forewarned.  It sounds like stringing many different riffs together without any thought to connect in any meaningful way and sounds amateurish. Self-produced albums are rarely stellar but there is certainly a lot of potential here despite many issues. LEGACY BLACK would do well to seek an outside producer to help them tighten everything up, better their mixes and maybe tone the overly theatrical singing back a bit.