Year : 2019
Style : Progressive Melodic Death Metal , Female vocals
Country : Germany
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 110 mb
Bio:
Melodic, progressive and technically on the highest level - these are probably the attributes that best describe the sound of LIVING ABYSS. With a sound rooted in classical Melodic Death Metal and extended with influences from a wide range of stylistics, this five-piece from the western part of Germany has been leaving a mark in the local underground scene for more than a decade.Originally founded in 2007 under the name LEVIATHAN, the first 10 years of the bands existence were paved with major achievements and setbacks. 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 resulted in financial losses. Burned out by the fact that all efforts for both 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 a successfull reunion finally happened with new members Jule Dahs (Vocals) and Hendrik Franke (Bass) joining in 2017. The reunion-show in their hometown of Siegburg in March 2018 was quickly sold out, while the comback-album „Of Origins Unearthed“ (released in Ocotober 2018) received widespread praise, was named „tip of the month“ in German Rock Hard magazine and soon became the most successfull record, that the five-piece has ever released.Coming off a year with so many achievements, the next setback was unfortunately already lurking around the corner, when the group was forced to rename itself to LIVING ABYSS due to a trademark conflict with a band of the same name hailing from the USA. But being discouraged has never been an option for the five-piece, therefore work on the next album is already underway behind the scenes and in 2020 the band will return to the stage with new energy and a new name!
Album:
This album was originally included in the October 2018 issue of The Progressive Subway.I’m incredibly fond of Melodic Death Metal. It was my introduction to the more extreme metal subgenres, and without it I’d probably still be listening to Nu-Metal and crying. Because of this, I tend to hold the genre to a pretty high standard. I’ve heard so much good Melodeath that the bad just feels that much worse. Because of this, I always go into new releases with more trepidation than most other genres. So the question is, does Leviathan DE have the Melodeath chops to impress me?Nope.Instrumentally this album is fine. Also, instrumentally this is a Power Metal album. That’s where my issues really start. Melodeath is supposed to incorporate those melodic from Power and Traditional Heavy Metal into a Death Metal structure, which is great. The problem here is that the death metal elements, instrumentally, are minimally present at best. Sometimes there’s a double-bass drum, but that’s about it. Otherwise I might as well be listening to Stratovarius.So this leads you to think, where does the Death Metal come in? It has to be the vocals, right? Unfortunately that would be correct. I say unfortunately because god damn the vocals are bad. Not “oh this could get better with practice” bad, they’re just unpleasant. The harshes are really sharp and shrieky and just generally aurally jarring. However, the real sin comes when the band layers those harshes over clean, female vocals. This in theory might be good, but in practice it’s a dumpster fire. The clean vocals are competent at best, but there’s minimal strength or tonal variety to them, which just emphasizes how one-note the harshes are. Added to this is what may be my absolute biggest pet-peeve in music production. The two vocal tracks aren’t synced up half the time, leaving a microscopic gap between when the clean and harsh tracks start and end. At first it isn’t bad, but the more I listen the more I notice and the more it drives me insane. Does this ruin the album? Probably not for everyone, but it comes damn close for me.This is a difficult one for me, because the guitar-work and drumming are quite competent, albeit barely death-metal related. The bass is inaudible if present. Also of note is that there are random Latin-inspired acoustic bits scattered throughout the album that are incredibly pleasant and also don’t make any sense whatsoever in the spots they are used.I can’t recommend this album, I just can’t. The music doesn’t make sense, the vocals are painful, and the composition is often just confusing. If you want to give it a listen after reading this, go for it, but I definitely won’t be returning.
Line Up:
Jule Dahs - Vocals (2017-2019) - See also: Kings Winter, ex-Skadika, Memoriam
Jonas Reisenauer - Guitars, Vocals (2005-2019)
Tobias Dahs - Guitars (2007-2019) - See also: Kings Winter
Hendrik Franke - Bass (2018-2019) - See also: Martyrion, ex-Transgression
Tobias Parke - Drums (2005-2019)
Tracklist:
01. Back to Zero (Intro) 00:44
02. Beyond the Stars 04:15
03. Proclamation of Death 05:35
04. Keep Going 05:31
05. The Eye of the Storm 03:03
06. Lake of Blood 04:05
07. Sorrow 05:18
08. Come Forth, Leviathan! 05:26
09. Whatever 04:07
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
