Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Leviathan - Leviathan CD (album) cover

LEVIATHAN

Leviathan

 

Crossover Prog

3.43 | 45 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

bristolstc
4 stars I've gotta give them 4 stars for trying. I mean, how many American bands successfully played progressive rock and didn't make fools of themselves? Not too many. It should be noted before we continue further that despite all the mellotrons, time changes, fancy rhythms, and dazzling guitars that this is more of a metal album than a prog one. Prog metal in an early form owing a huge amount of their sound to Deep Purple would be the best way to describe it. "Arabesque" starts the album and is the masterstroke here, a perfect hybrid of Wakeman period Yes and Deep Purple with slashing heavy on the distortion guitars, screaming Gillan soundalike vocals, mellotron, and a soft chorus to contrast with the heavy metal verses. You're wondering what direction they'll take, Deep Purple or Yes. The next track "Angela" sounds like neither, a long ballad more in the vein of my fave American progressive band Jasper Wrath but not as good. Still, it's a good song with effective lush mellotrons and pleasant vocals. "Endless Dream" is back to metal meets prog with a dark, sinister, violent attack from the vocals and portentious doom ladened instrumentation. It sounds like what all the metal bands who flirt with progressive try and fail at doing. This is the album's longest track and never does it become boring. The guitars are blazing when they need to, the vocal is impressive- a bit of Jim Morrison in with the Ian Gillan, and again there's lots of mellotron and some good old Hammond B3 too. Side Two is a little more incosistent than Side one although it starts strongly with the Zeppelin meets Purple "Seagull" which features a high pitched scream from the singer that will have you in disbelief. Even Plant and Gillan weren't that shrill! The song rocks convincingly, and the vocalist therefore doesn't make a fool of himself. Unfortunately, it's from here that things go downhill. "Angel Of Death" is a sick and stupid throwaway, leaving me totally underwhelmed and almost wanting to forget I'd bought this. It improves after that again, though. "Always Need You" is a great melodic ballad and "Quicksilver Clay" is a good closing track of melodic and metal crossover. The only problem here is the problem I encounter with nearly all progressive groups from my homeland. We just don't "get' this kind of music well enough to make a five star masterpiece essential album except Jasper Wrath. So this is a great one to pick up if you find it. You'll like it and should agree it's a really good addition.
| 4/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this LEVIATHAN review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.