LEVIATHAN

"...the magic minstrel tells of ages old, of man and his soul; the endless flight, dark against the light, it makes your blood run cold..."

Leviathan, a really obscure band, for me... for another time I have to thank Akarma records for its excellent work on many minus-known titles. It is strange thing there are so few reviews on this one shot US band. Thought our PA friends beyond Atlantic ocean were more into Leviathan.

Leviathan...that ancestral monstrum which is told about in ancient legends...Leviathan, the well known monstrum uopon whose characters philosopher Thomas Hobbes build up his description of the STATE's (governement) concept. A horrible monster which has concentrated all the rights of man. The statual government is pure strenght and violence: the Great Leviathan! Men are fighting each other and no one has dues or obligation toward anybody else: HOMO HOMINI LUPUS. Man tries always to dominate other persons and so there is the need of a PACT between them. Every man abandons all his powers and gives them to the State. After the pact is signed, man has no power or right against the State, all is concentrated in it!

Nice cover art, a sea-monster (dragon-shaped) arises from the waters and is going to attack a little ship which is sailing the vast ocean driven by the wind.

How about the music? Well, Leviathan gives us a sort of mix between american peculiar hard rock and very strong mellotron parts. In a similar vein of the first Deep Purple. This characteristics are self evident since the first few seconds of the opener track titled "Arabesque" (6,14 mns): harder and gentler parts alternate each other, always being an important role for the famous keyboard instrument. You will not hear to complecated and elaborated arrangements, but the results is very good art rock, a convincing album from start to finish.

"Angela" (6,42 mns) is a mellow song with the predominance of mellotron and acoustic guitar. Some playing children's voices introduce. A soft ballad for a romantic interlude.

"Endless Dream" (10,06 mns) is the great opus here. The most interesting for a proglover. Varied arrangements for this darker piece. More important role for bass guitar. The voice of the singer (I think he is Wain Bradley) reminds me of Erik Bloom of Blue Oyster Cult who, in the same period completed their most considerable release of the so-called "black and white period": Secret Treaties. In fact Leviathan are a sort of mix between Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin (for the vocals of another singer) and Blue Oyster Cult (the most important american rock band of that time). Yeah, Endless Dream is an excellent track.

"Seagull" (4,58 mns) is a more conventional hard rock piece. The singer (this time the singer should be Peter Richardson, but none info on the Akarma booklet) is influenced a lot by Robert Plant way of singing...sometimes he seems to be a clone of him!

"Angel of Death" (4,12 mns) continues the riff of the previous track and "Always Need You" (3,26 mns) is another romantic short ballad with a remarkable electric guitar.

"Quicksilver Clay" (7,26 mns) is the other highlight of the album with a remarkable organ.

All in all, Leviathan unique album is a very good one...the band seemed to be very promising, what a pity the split too soon! I don't know why. My rating: 3.5 stars!!