“Back to zero” – that is the current motto of German Melodic Death five-piece LEVIATHAN, who is returning to the scene with it’s third album “Of Origins Unearthed” after a four year break. A record, which is simultaneously marking the begin of a new era for the band, while also going back to the musical roots of the musicians early days. Encouraged by the sold-out reunion concert in their hometown of Siegburg in March 2018, the group has created nine fierce tracks, that not only evoke memories of the glorious Gothenburg Sound and Finnish bands like CHILDREN OF BODOM in the nineties, but also mix in some unexpected musical pieces. That can best be heard in the Spanish influenced solo on the instrumental track “Come Forth, Leviathan!” or the extremely catchy riffs of “Keep Going.”
“Of Origins Unearthed” however is not only a step into the future, but is also, fitting to the title, rediscovering the band’s roots. After all the songs of the record were already written between 2008 and 2009, though ended up in the archive and were never recorded until now.
“It’s very important for us to point out, that this is not a collection of B-Sides. Even though it might seem like that.”, comments guitar-player Tobias Dahs. “These nine tracks were always intended to end up on an album together, but after we had rehearsed and played them live for almost four years, we didn’t feel like we could add anything creative to them when we entered the studio for the first time in 2011. That is why we put the material aside and instead went ahead with the whole ‘Beyond The Gates …’-concept. On the upside, to rediscover these songs after all these years and to bring new life to them, was all the more interesting for us this way.”
As much as the musical direction was “back to the roots”, the way that the album was recorded and produced was a big milestone and an important test for what is to come in the next years. For the first time, guitar-player Tobias Dahs engineered and mixed the whole album at Leviathan Headquarters, while the final stem mastering was handled by Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann of ORDEN OGAN.
“To us it was really important to find a way to be able to earn back the money that we had to spend producing the record, because we wanted to make sure that we never end up in a similar situation to the one we were in after “The Aeons Torn” – with basically no money left to keep running the band. The obvious solution was to record the album ourselves, which proofed to be a huge adventure for us and an enormous challenge for myself personally. But the end result, especially with the incredible mastering by Seeb, couldn’t be better. With that problem now sorted, we have a solid plan for the future of our joint endeavour and will be supplying you with a lot more albums in the coming years!” – Tobias Dahs
After more than one decade in business, the five-piece is also looking back on a very interesting history. Starting with early success in 2009 with the EP “From The Desolate Inside,” the band earned respect from critics and fans alike with the debut being voted “Demo Of The Month” in German Metal Hammer magazine and a performance at Summer Breeze Open Air in 2010. But the following concept-albums “Beyond The Gates Of Imagination Pt. 1” and “The Aeons Torn” were rather troubled by big problems with the distributors and resulting financial losses. Burned out by the fact that all efforts for the albums were erased by their business partners mistakes, the band decided in 2013 to go into an indefinite hiatus. The break should finally extend to four years, before the reunion finally happened with the new members Jule Dahs (Vocals) and Hendrik Franke (Bass) in early 2018.
Read our review here.
