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Unearthing the Metal Underground: New Jersey's Grim Legion

Carmine Vincent is best known for being Biohazard’s roadie turned guitarist. Though his stint with them was short-lived, way back in 2003, he performed on the legendary band’s remarkable album “Kill Or Be Killed.” The bulk of his career, however, has been with bands further underground, including the burly death metal ensemble Grim Legion. The Northeasterners’ name and notoriety primarily bounces around in their New Jersey stomping grounds, built upon the back of a trio of demos during the band’s brief, earlier existence between 1988 and 1991.

Grim Legion’s corpse came back to life in 2011, having since released their first full-length (finally) in 2014 followed by an EP four years later. Fast forward to 2026, the Jersey boys have just digitally released their second proper album, “Harbingers Of Death, on July 10, via Horror Pain Gore Death Productions. The 10 songs on hand are fantastic slices of timeless, gritty American death metal madness. The band also features Evoken guitarists John Paradiso and Randy Cavanaugh, which isn’t surprising considering that Grim Legion isn’t afraid to slow down its mid-paced assault to a malevolent death-doom lurch as they do on “Mutilation Scream.” Their presumable appreciation for Autopsy is prominent on the horrific death thrasher “Found Dead.”

Every musician seems to offer something integral to the killer songs comprising “Harbingers Of Death,” but Carmine Vincent’s well-enunciated vocals, sometimes reminiscent of Bolt Thrower’s Karl Willetts, prove to be the highlight. Since bands like Incantation are so en vogue these days, it’s possible that Grim Legion may gain the attention they’re most certainly worthy of.