When music buffs are pressed for their favorite music from Italy, they're likely to give you operatic names such as PAVAROTTI or ANDREA BOCELLI. Music buffs and diehard Sopranos fans (such as this critic) can also cite names like MADREBLU and JOVANOTTI. Listen to these artists and you'll notice they're not very metal. The former home of an empire just doesn't have the reputation for it, and yet, The Metal Archives can list nearly seven-thousand Italian bands of all metal stripes.

Under the banner of the Tuscan pegasus and bearing a Doom Metal torch, LEGIONEM marches forth with their sinister second album, "Sator Omnia Noctem". 2017's "Ipse Venena Bibas" seems like a distant memory as the band has taken a tremendous move forward stylistically, a cohesive unit which has clearly matured in their approach. They were ready to fight before, but this album proves they're ready to lead.

The intro, "Flies", is light-hearted almost to the point of fun, well contrasting the grim lyrics before the sound of flies over shit ushers in what is definitely NOT shit. "High Spires" comes in blazing on the organ, accompanying a malevolent riff as well as any band that tried it before. "Abramelin" follows up; a much heavier track that feels like it mixes in some Power elements to add to their repertoire.

Next is the album's longest at over six minutes, "Christe Eleison", which maintains the heaviness while resuming the riff-companion organ. To break things up a bit, they resume their light-hearted fare for the intro of "A Flush Of Sulfur", and like the first track it very much belies the dark lyrics being sung along with it, but again, it's done to great effect.

The brakes are pressed again for "I Am Magister", wherein lurking guitars are soon given the gas before segueing to the oddly titled "AEAJATMOAAMVMSGSTGJEZ", a proper bookend track that rightly gets the best of the album's ideas into a single entity. That apocalyptic organ returns for the outro, "Follia", which features a Latin mass given backwards, a good image to leave off on.

By the numbers, "Sator Omnia Noctem" really does feel like a Doom Metal prizefighter; weighing in around the thirty-five minute mark, with six of eight tracks at over four minutes each, if it ever has the privilege of being pressed for vinyl, they've tailor-made the album for the medium.

The Doom is truly in the roots for this band. They have a retro sound if you're familiar with the subgenre's history, but the best part is that it's brand new; LEGIONEM should tour for the album like revivalist preachers under a black canvas tent. "Sator Omnia Noctem" has been out since Halloween 2020 and should be considered on the best-of lists for the year, at least in the Doom category. The bar has been set very high for album three, but if LEGIONEM can stay the course, they're sure to make another monster.