Did I say my favorite Leviathan song was Lycanthropus
Rex? Well, in what seems like the five minutes or so since the release
of the last Leviathan, a new song has won my black heart. "Requiem
for a Turd World" is an eight and a half minute glory ride through
the black dimension of Leviathan. It features lengthy melody lines, ever
increasingly maniacal blasting, and those irreplaceable crypt vox. The
best part of the song is when Wrest screams "white devil, black metal!"
That has got to be the best fucking title I've heard in a long time. I
still smile when I think about it.
However, we'd have to say the absolute best moment
on the CD comes into the very Gorgoroth-influenced song, "Carrion,"
which not only features some of Leviathan's most infectious riffs yet,
but has a section in which Wrest actually sings! He's technically not
very good (well, neither is Pest from Gorgoroth), but the result is so
purely great, and the end result is that it's nothing short of perfect.
It makes us feel proud and metal just to hear it.
White Devil, Black Metal marks Leviathan's
first experimentation with acoustic guitar. It's pretty well done, but
unfortunately is of the plug-in variety (there was no alternative available),
so it only sounds mostly acoustic. Still, it's a good and very promising
start in this direction.
White Devil, Black Metal (I'll never get tired
of that) is mostly new material, with a few of the songs being re-recorded
from older albums. Therefore, while some of the songs are the best individual
work yet, the clear album to beat remains Howl Mockery at the Cross.
Being nit-picky, the vocals on White Devil, Black Metal are a bit
too fuzzed out and high, making most everything sound almost exactly the
same. A totally small price to pay. Write Wrest and order the whole enchilada.
Tell him Maelstrom sent you.
