HEARTQUAKE / REDUX

Two of the founding members of this Italian band, vocalist Alex Brunori and drummer Andrea Monetta, found the inspiration, time, and money to do a total remake of the band's 1988 debut album. While the new album's sound and production benefit from 21st Century technological advances and the songs benefit from the wisdom and maturity of 35 years of retrospection, and I certainly can support and condone the re-releasing of old albums--maybe even re-mixing or re-mastering--I cannot say that I can condone the treatment an album of all remakes as a new studio release; perhaps it should be entered under the "Boxset/Compilation" pages or even the "Fan Club and Promo" page. (It's the same issue I have with Mike Oldfield's constant remakes of old albums. I mean, do we really have the time and desire to hear what the older Hermann Hesse would do with Siddhartha in his 70s? or 80-year old Picasso's version of "Harlequin's Family with a Monkey"? or how Wright would have designed Taliesin East when he was living in Arizona in his 80s?) At the same time, some of you will argue that the before-and-later items will be two completely different things. This is not the case with Heartquake / Redux.

3.5 stars; good but only essential if you want to play it next to the original.

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Posted Friday, March 22, 2024 | Review this album | Report (Review #3032136)

Italy's first neo-prog band, LEVIATHAN, formed all the way back in 1985 in Rome and released its debut album HEARTQUAKE in 1988 alongside classic neo-prog bands like Marillion, Pendragon, IQ, Pallas and Twelfth Night and then released a couple more albums in the 90s but after the band's third album "Volume" in 1998 just disappeared from the scene and hasn't been heard from since. It's been 26 years since the band's last album and at long last in 2024 the band has come out of hiding and delivers a new release in 2024.

HEARTQUAKE / REDUX isn't exactly a new album but rather a reinterpreted re-recording of the debut HEARTQUAKE that first appeared 34 years ago. Obviously many changes have occurred in that time. For starters the only members to have spanned all four decades are vocalist Alex Brunori and percussionist Andrea Monetta with Andrea Amici (keyboards) joining LEVIATHAN in on the 1990 second release "Bee Yourself" and bassist Andrea Castelli and guitarist Fabio Serra only joining in for this newly recorded version of the debut.

The album features all the same tracks as the debut with the exception that the seventh track "There's Only Watershade" is missing as well as not including the bonus track "In the Dream of Up We Quake!" which appeared on the 1994 CD from Musea. This newer rendition clocks in at 41 minutes and features a completely different album cover. While it may seem strange that a band waits so long to release another album and then it happens to be a remake of its debut, apparently this is only a teaser for the new album "Testudo" that will show the band adapting to the brave new world of neo-prog in the 2020s.


As far as this HEARTQUAKE / REDUX album goes, it's pretty much a faithful restoration of the original without really bringing it up to date musically but rather focuses on all the production tricks that a modern sheen mixing job can bring to the table. Still sounding very much like that dated neo-prog style from the 80s, LEVIATHAN basically is letting the prog world know that it's still alive and well with every intent to continue but honestly after listening to this one after the original debut first, i can't say there are a lot of improvements here other than the obvious production. Personally i would've expected some stylistic shifts to update it into the new millennium but apparently the band found it fit to simply keep it as authentically retro as possible.

It's a decent representation of 80s neo-prog with that Marillion inspired bass groove and of course the Steve Hackett guitar sweeps along with the usual saturation of symphonic keyboard attacks. The musicians are all competent but honestly this remake doesn't really take things as far as i'd hoped considering the band's debut was a fairly average sounding release for 1988 long after the bigwigs of neo-prog had gotten underway. Once again the band sounds totally British without any clues of its Italian heritage. This is one of those albums i really don't get what all the fuss is about. It's pleasant. It gets the job done but doesn't beg a return visit like pretty much every modern album from Arena, IQ, Pendragon or Galahad. A good album but not really much more than that. A decent comeback but some brand new fresh material would have been more interesting.

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Posted Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Review this album | Report (Review #3033528)

If you're looking for some good old classic progressive rock you can't miss this Leviathan album. Born in the mid-80s in Rome, they were among the first bands in Italy to join the new wave of Prog Rock. Originally recorded in 1988, Heartquake is the reissue of the band's debut album of the same nam ... (read more)

Report this review (#3037653) | Posted by FabArt | Tuesday, April 16, 2024 | Review Permanlink

While I was looking for new things on the web, I saw a name appear in a list: Leviathan . As I read diagonally, I don't print the information directly and it's by rereading the page that I end up wondering. This is a name that reminds me of something... Well, everyone knows that there is more th ... (read more)

Report this review (#3033324) | Posted by ProgCritique | Tuesday, March 26, 2024 | Review Permanlink

Now again "Leviathan"! And it is immediately a plunge into the 1980s, years of the "renaissance" of progressive rock music, made up of searches for new records reviewed in self-produced fanzines sold in record stores or sent in the mail. The CD looks good right away, with a revamped graphic design a ... (read more)

Report this review (#3030100) | Posted by maurodeblaise | Friday, March 15, 2024 | Review Permanlink

In the early '80s, a turmoil crossed the British Isles: a handful of niche bands, led by Marillion, committed themselves to reviving progressive rock, a genre that post-'77 seemed swept away by punk and new-wave. However, in Italy, a similar phenomenon seemed destined not to materialize: in thos ... (read more)

Report this review (#3030064) | Posted by MrTomSawyer | Friday, March 15, 2024 | Review Permanlink

27 years after their 3rd album, the latest one comes out, and covers their 1st album which dates back 36 years! We're going to see the sound in what state it's in and dive back into neo prog far from the typical Italian RPI in fact. The album includes the first 6 tracks of the original album, the ... (read more)

Report this review (#3029525) | Posted by alainPP | Tuesday, March 12, 2024 | Review Permanlink

Definitely a very good surprise, an international high end production with great quality both in the songwriting and in the arrangements. With this new/updated version of Heartquake the Italian band shows its quality and skills; Leviathan can be easily compared to great prog bands of the past as ... (read more)

Report this review (#3027477) | Posted by Cagliostro | Tuesday, March 5, 2024 | Review Permanlink

I didn't know Leviathan's original Heartquake album until I found this new album, Heartquake Redux. So, I listened to it without any expectation or the need to compare the two records. Said that, what a great prog rock album. I could spend some time to find all possible inspirations that are emb ... (read more)

Report this review (#3027086) | Posted by Hierophant99 | Sunday, March 3, 2024 | Review Permanlink

This is an impressive reebot! I remember when the original version came out, here in Italy, the magic of a gatefold vynil format (with a definitely prog cover), and the sense of happiness and immediate affinity when the first bars of "The Waterproof Grave" kicked in! Seeing and hearing the new v ... (read more)

Report this review (#3026990) | Posted by K8raze | Sunday, March 3, 2024 | Review Permanlink

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