First Impressions
So, we come to the end of this marathon. With a debut no less!
Now. We all know debuts are usually the roughest part of a band's discography. There are some miracle works that come out the gate like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Haken. But this time... Yeah, this album pretty much follows the standard notions of a debut album.
It's rough around the edges, bleeding with it's influences. It's got massive potential, but it's buried under a great layer of what I can only call inexperience.
This is pretty much a death metal album. Although I do think that is putting it under a simpler light than it deserves to be in. It's certainly no tech-death. But the chops these guys had from the start is pretty baffling.
While Brent would only get better and better with each release, his guitarwork here is pretty crazy. The biggest highlights of the album for me were the guitar moments honestly. Crusher Destroyer has a super short but sweet moment where he goes all bluesy with a little solo and it just adds so much. The harmonies section in March of the Fire Ants was incredibly unexpected and awesome. It was a strange moment of light and hope in an otherwise bleak album. And the ending solo to Elephant Man once again leads us to an amazing close of the album. It's very much the prototype to the Hearts Alive solo.
But of course, when talking about technical, there is one member who we gotta talk about.
What in the world did they give Brann for this album?
The drums here are some of the absolute craziest and most balls-to-the-wall drums I've heard in my life. Every song, he cannot spend like 5 seconds before completely destroying his kit. It very much reminded me of Joey Jordison, with his absolute crazy fills and just overwhelmingly fast speed. And once again, I cannot overstate how he CANNOT chill. Every song, even the slower ones are just riddled with crazy fills.
It's kind of crazy how Brann has always been the secret sauce of the band. He went from insane drumming in their early albums to an amazing singer by the later albums.
While my praises for this album are not many. There were some moments that caught my attention.
I think the start of this album is pretty excellent, especially with a debut. Crusher Destroyer is a complete punch in the face. It honestly feels like one of the most thought songs of the album, even if it's only 2 minutes. It's pretty perfect in how short and heavy it is. Once again, the little bridge with the bluesy licks is amazing, probably my favorite part of the album.
Then you have March Of The Fire Ants. Which I think is the best song of the album. Where the other songs just get lost in a sea of meandering heaviness, this one actually has solid songwriting. The riffs are cohesive enough to make a seamless song. And by the time you get to the bridge with the twin leads it actually feels like it has a little bit of gravitas. Also come on, March of the Fire Ants is like one of the most badass names I can think of for a metal song.
The rest of the heavy songs are... not great for me. They're not bad, but it's clear this album suffers from what most debuts suffer. The songwriting is just not there yet. It feels like just random heavy riffs chopped and packaged into random songs. Don't even get me started with the lyrics. How they went from this incomprehensible mess to the writing in Leviathan in the span of one album is incredible cause these barely count as lyrics.
Again, it's not a bad experience. But most of the album I'm kind of just bored. Once in a while I'd be like hell yeah that was an amazing riff or drum fill. But what's surrounding it just does not have substance to me.
Now, there are two other two songs I will highlight. These are Ol'e Nesse and Elephant Man. These songs are the trademark slow and trippy moments of the album. And I have to say, in contrast to the super heavy and meandering sound of the rest of the album. These were actually welcome breaks. They actually made me want to close my eyes and vibe with them for a little bit. Elephant Man especially got better the more it went on. The solo at the end really hit.
Honestly. While this wasn't a very high note to end this marathon on. I'm just glad I can rest from the behemoth reviews I've had to write recently. This was a perfectly serviceable debut. It's a complete incoherent mess. but with infinite potential. I am so glad that potential was achieved.
Ranking
March Of The Fire Ants
Crusher Destroyer
Elephant Man
Where Strides The Behemoth
Ol'e Nessie
Mother Puncher
Workhorse
Trilobite
Burning Man
Trainwreck
Trampled Under Hoof
Rating