Leviathan - True Traitor, True Whore

A handful of years ago my Album of the Year List wouldn't touch Black Metal with a ten foot pole.  This year however, Black Metal will very likely be the most represented subgenre on the list. Thanks in no small part to the newest Leviathan release, True Traitor, True Whore (Profound Lore).  Being unfamiliar with sole member, Wrest's previous works, these fresh ears absorbed the album free of comparison.

The many layers of the album float through the consciousness in a fog of discontent. The listener can never really get comfortable as the different aspects are pulled to the surface. The way the varied instrumentation is mixed is extraordinary. It's not necessarily what is highest in the mix that garners the most attention. Each time through, a different feature presents itself making the album a dynamic listen even after several plays. Even when the album pulls back from the full black metal assault it still seeps with menace. Wrest has captured that tortured part of the soul and set it to music. True Traitor, True Whore can be seen as a voyage on a black sea of emotion. When the vessel is not drowning in malice, it drips with despair. Wrest's vocals (think chicken-carcass-in-a-meat-grinder/Dark Crystal bird monster with strep throat/monstrous feral beast) don't so much tell a story,as act as an atmospheric vehicle driving the album down into the twisted depths of the listener's psyche. The bleak psychedelics and ghostly howls mixed with the primitiveness of the the base emotions the album conveys make this a truly frightening album. It's not hard to imagine that those uninitiated to music of this ilk may well find themselves in the fetal position slowly losing their grip on sanity. That one man can create art of this impact from his heart and soul is very inspiring. I have to force myself to take it off repeat and return to reality. A reality that seems a little darker in the shadow of True Traitor, True Whore.


www.twitter.com/MetalMatt_KofN