Artist: Leviathan / Iuvenus
Country: USA / Poland
Label: No Colours Records
Formats: Split CD
Year: 2003
Wintertime, hmmm, that means blackmetal for me. And to be precise, the raw kind of blackmetal. When it’s getting colder and darker outside I’m always grabbing for my Darkthrone and Burzum collection. But those albums are already too standard, so every now and then I’m heading for a search for new talent in the raw blackmetal scene. This time I came up with the American band Leviathan. This summer colleague Geert reviewed an album from Moribund Cult, what I have here is the split release with Polish band Iuvenes on No Colours Records.
The CD starts of with the Polish hordes Iuvenes. Well, I actually don’t need a lot of words to describe that this band is actually the Polish version of Bathory. The band was – up till now – unknown to me, although I stumbled upon the name quite a few times when I was wandering around in the underground world of blackmetal, I just didn’t took the time to check this band. Too bad I didn’t listen to them before, for they are an awesome band. Since Bathory drowned in its own shit and lost its way years and years ago, this band is a good replacement if you ask me. I guess I can’t give the band more compliments… Great old school blackmetal!
The American blackmetal band Leviathan fills the other five tracks. It is quite hard to believe that this band is not from mighty Norway, but ok… Here we go. Where do I have to say this band is one of the best – maybe they ARE the best – band to emerge from the United States and play blackmetal? There are hardly blackmetal bands that really surprise me, and this is one of those. The last one that took my breath was Armagedda I guess, now it is Leviathan. The band could simply be labelled as an early Burzum worshipping band. Repetitive and hypnotising riffs are the main thing this band floats on, the tempo’s are low and hardly ever blasting. The echo in the music makes you feel miserable and haunted to the bone.
This is a must have for people who are getting a bit tired of the blackmetal bands nowadays, for people who are searching for new talent, for people who seek for new bands in the old Norwegian style, for people who are totally insane of some band called Burzum. And let’s not forget the band that started this split CD, Iuvenes, who is the best replacement for Bathory I heard so far. So, you can label this one as being one of the best blackmetal split releases of this year. Enough said…
