LEVIATHAN

3.5 stars actually...

Another entry by an 80's Italian band,but this time with a very British sound.LEVIATHAN were formed in mid-80's in Rome by singer Alex Brunori, keyboardisy Franco Pezzella and drummer Andrea Moneta and the same year they even recorded a demo entitled ''7% solution'',distributed in a few copies, enough for the band to gain some wide recognizion.In 1987 with the arrival of Wldrek Sandro on bass and Giorgio Carana on guitars LEVIATHAN enter the studio to record their debut ''Heartquake'',released the next year and re-issued on CD by Musea Records five years later.

It is rather a surprise that the band's sound has nothing to do with any group related to the Italian prog movement of the 70's.Obviously influenced by the new prog movement of UK, LEVIATHAN produced some exciting melodic prog.All tracks are sung by Brunori in English:an emotional,clear and non-accented voice,who supports the band's style very well.The album is filled with the nice playing of Carana,who's distorted guitars are all over the place,delivering sensitive solos, great breaks and catchy grooves.The synth work of Pezzella ranges from colorful supporting roles to grandiose,almost symphonic passages and resembles more than anyone to IQ's Martin Orford.However I find their sound to be a hybrid between ''The wake''-era IQ and early PALLAS in the most bombastic and intense tracks,yet each one is played with great lust and inspiration.

After the album's release, LEVIATHAN toured extensively both in Italy and abroad (Japan, France, Germany, USA etc.) and this a perfect sign how good this band was.Neo prog followers will love this album,the rest of the progheads will have some pleasant time spent,I think, if listening to ''Heartquake''.Strongly recommended.

An at best mediocre album all in all. Fans of Italian Prog can easily find dozens of groups who are superior to Leviathan. The song writing isn't very exciting, the keyboard department sounds boring and pretty sterile. Some good guitar soli, at least...

A surprisingly enjoyable neo-prog release from Italy. These guys have a real knack for melody, and moments from "Red Moon" and "Endless Hunting" have a knack for putting a tune on your lips and a smile on your face. Keyboards are used in a subtle manner, and luckily for us these guys understand "subtle" doesn't mean "just stick to the same, boring DX7 presets". As a result, this disc has aged a lot better than a number of others of its era.

The 19-minute title suite that closes out the disc does so with grace and style, shifting tempos and moods well and incorporating the tunefulness that is the band's strongest suit. Unfortunately, this is also where the main weakness of the band shows through: the vocals. Alex Brunori is actually a fine vocalist, who puts across the melodies superbly. But he should have sung in Italian; his English diction is absolutely deplorable and he mispronounces a lot of words. It would have been disastrous even had the lyrics not been...rather silly. Which they are, particularly on the suite, which is about the denizens of a beehive.

Still, for all its shortcomings, Leviathan manage to come up smelling like a rose with this recording in the end. For a (sub-)genre as frequently derivative and risible as neo-prog, that's actually quite a remarkable achievement.

Second and best album from this Italian progressive rock band. I would describe the music of this album as neo-progressive with influences from jazz. Listening to this album I noticed influences from Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Genesis, Marillion and IQ. This album was released in 1990 but it doesn't sound dated today at all, probably thanks to the seventies and eighties sounds. The highlight of the album is the title track, an epic of 20 minutes which tells the story of a society of bees and the most important moment in the life of one male bee in peculiar. This masterpiece is based on a very beautiful piano melody that returns every now and then, interrupted by many changes in mood and rhythm. I never thought 20 minutes could end so soon. The Hackett-like guitar on this album is lovely but it's obvious that the keyboards take the leading role in all of the songs. But also the bass-player and especially the drummer are extremely talented. The voice of Andrea Amici (it's a boy) is typical for an Italian band, he reminds me of Francone Mussida the singer of the famous Italian band PFM when they released "Chocolate kings". No weak tracks on this album. Too bad there's just 40 minutes of music on this cd. If you ever get the chance to listen to this splendid album, do it !!!! You won't regret it.