Labels: Profound Lore
Review by: Chris Bress
Leviathan nearly killed me when I bought the Iuvenes split, it’s brutal mid-paced Burzum style black metal was simple but layered enough to really hit the spot and sound fucking evil. When “Tentacles of Horror” arrived on my doorstep everything changed. He upped the ante, this was what I wanted Anaal Nathrakh to do on their most recent cd (which has inevitably grown on me in a huge way).
Leviathan’s first track here is cold, filthy and as depressing as both Burzum and Burning Witch. The riffs could surely appeal to any Union of Uranus fan too, as they could a My Dying Bride fan. The single depressing chord that develops is a heartbreaker. By the time the song has developed into Nurse With Wound / Deathprod, or even Godspeed! You Black Emperor melodies in the end I’m physically exhausted and drained of all but hatred.
“The Remotest Cipher (Beside the Last Breath Banished)” pummels the listener with a mid-tempo beat that the layers of guitar and vocals almost swamp. The riff’s are fucking amazing and I really wish I wasn’t listening to it at home and was up in Thor’s Cave in the Manifold Valley searching for the Green Night.
Xasthur is possibly the most depressing music I’ve ever heard, the compositions are almost classical albeit simple and sicker than Wagner. These tracks wash over you like a spray of blood from the neck of one of Dracula’s meals. Xasthur’s sense of melody is what helps the listener return to his records so frequently, although me and a friend always find it takes many listens to “get it” due to the pure horrible sound. Most of the best records do take time to realise however, it took me about 20 listens to become obsessed with Ulver’s “Nattens Madrigal”, and that’s saying something!
This record should be sought out, it’s a metal masterpiece.