LEVIATHAN - Beholden To Nothing, Braver Since Then

Kategorie: CD-Reviews | Genre: Progmetal | Heft: Jahrgang 2014, eclipsed Nr. 161 / 6-2014 | VÖ-Jahr: 2014 | Wertung: 6.5/10 | Label: Stonefellowship | Autor: MaB


Leviathan have been active in the music business for more than 25 years and have experienced several crises since then. Since 1998 the band was on ice. However, three ex-members continued to work from 2001 under the name Braver Since Then (BST), which led to the founding of Leviathan six years later. With the current studio album, chief thinker John Lutzow apparently doesn't want to break with the past, as the title refers decidedly to his interim band. Time also seems to have stood still musically: singer Jeff Ward reminds us time and again of Ray Alder from Fates Warning ("A Shepherds Work") and also the change of acoustic and electric passages refers to the progmetal ancestors ("Creatures Of Habit"). Nevertheless, this disc doesn't really captivate: Emotional flights of fancy are missing and the unmotivated jamming in "Magical Pills Provided" is simply out of place. Moreover, "Beholden To Nothing, Braver Since Then" with a playing time of 76 minutes is too long and too top-heavy to let real euphoria arise in the listener.

Top Track: Intrinsic Contentment

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