Leviathan is a one-man black metal project from San
Francisco based Wrest, who composes and plays everything in his apartment,
and records it all on a four-track. The result is fantastic.
For a genre where often times the more obscure or
crappy, the better, there is definite black metal underground appeal in
a man who unassumingly puts out tapes as a hobby and entirely by himself.
By true black metal quality standards Leviathan's material is perfect:
low-fi, but in a way that's satisfying.
Well, Misanthropic Necro Blasphemy in particular
is perhaps a little too lo-fi, as you'll have to turn your volume
knob way up to hear it. Some of the material on this album has speedy
guitars ala Immortal, held up by fast Darkthrone-esque beats. However,
the pace that Wrest relies on most, and seems to be naturally comfortable
with is a mid-tempo, heavy, brooding one.
The vocals that are lain on top of the music are a
masterpiece of bodiless harshness. Wrest employs a well-chosen vocal effect
that gives his voice an even more ethereally raspy quality.
The material on Leviathan is fairly simple without
being minimal, and has the supreme characteristic of sounding evilly obscure,
like great black metal should. Give Leviathan a shot, it'll only cost
you a few bucks, and you'll be supporting a true underground musician.
