(Black Metal / Ambient) Leviathan - Tentacles of Whorror - 2004, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Wrest (Jeff Whitehead) - Vocals, All instruments (Twilight (USA), Lurker of Chalice, Sunn O))), GiftHorse, Krieg, Nachtmystium, guest for Today is the Day)

EAC extraction logfile from 25. September 2007, 22:53 for CD
Leviathan / Tentacles Of Whorror
Used drive : SONY DVD+-RW DW-Q58A Adapter: 0 ID: 1
Read mode : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Used output format : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\bin\flac.exe (User Defined Encoder)
320 kBit/s
Additional command line options : -8 -A tukey(0.25) -A gauss(0.1875) -b 4096 -V -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s --sector-align
Other options :
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Installed external ASPI interface
Track 1
Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Profiles\01 - Leviathan - What Fresh Hell.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 96.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC AE431167
Copy CRC AE431167
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Profiles\02 - Leviathan - Heir To The Noose Of Ghoul.wav
Peak level 96.6 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 652E8891
Copy CRC 652E8891
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Profiles\03 - Leviathan - Cut, With The Night Into Mine Heart.wav
Peak level 96.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC A7DB0586
Copy CRC A7DB0586
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Profiles\04 - Leviathan - A Bouquet Of Blood For Skull.wav
Peak level 96.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 5A459C67
Copy CRC 5A459C67
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Profiles\05 - Leviathan - Deciphering Legend Within The Serpent's Briar.wav
Peak level 96.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 007187F8
Copy CRC 007187F8
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Profiles\06 - Leviathan - A Neccesary Mutilation.wav
Peak level 96.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 16798B4B
Copy CRC 16798B4B
Copy OK
Track 7
Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Profiles\07 - Leviathan - Vexed And Vomit Hexed.wav
Peak level 96.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 93F8A2BD
Copy CRC 93F8A2BD
Copy OK
Track 8
Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Profiles\08 - Leviathan - Tentacles Of Whorror (Revel The Tyrant).wav
Peak level 96.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC DD119D12
Copy CRC DD119D12
Copy OK
Track 9
Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Profiles\09 - Leviathan - Requiem For A Turd World.wav
Peak level 99.4 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 31C06932
Copy CRC 31C06932
Copy OK
Track 10
Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Profiles\10 - Leviathan - Blood Red And True- Part 3 (Plummeting Obscure).wav
Peak level 96.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC B5541945
Copy CRC B5541945
Copy OK
Track 11
Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Profiles\11 - Leviathan - Mouth Orifice Bizarre.wav
Peak level 96.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC B5BAD7BC
Copy CRC B5BAD7BC
Copy OK
Track 12
Filename C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Profiles\12 - Leviathan - The History Of Rape.wav
Peak level 96.6 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC D6E10EA9
Copy CRC D6E10EA9
Copy OK
No errors occured
End of status report

REM GENRE Metal
REM DATE 2004
REM DISCID 9C10FC0C
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The Beast Draws Closer - 90% Written by The_Evil_Hat on June 25th, 2008
Leviathan is an American Suicidal Black Metal band. Like the better known Xasthur, Leviathan’s focus is atmosphere. However, the way the two largest bands in the genre go about their depressive task varies greatly. Xasthur uses a wall of sound, low fi production and synths to create what is almost ambient music created with metal instruments. Leviathan, on the other hand, doesn’t forgo traditional riffs on their quest for darkness. Instead, they meld atmospheric sections, ambiance, and crushing metal riffs into their music.
With Leviathan’s first official album (The Tenth Sub Level of Suicide) they focused more on the atmospheric portion of their sound. The entire album flowed together as one track, and its effect was incredible. This time around, the focus is more on the riffs.
The album starts with the violent song, What Fresh Hell. This track is filled with pummeling mid paced black metal. The following track ups the ante and even includes a breakdown. With track three, the album becomes more ambient and all around darker. Now that Wrest knows he has you, there isn’t as much need for ferocious heaviness to pin you down under its weight. The swirling darkness is just as effective at the task. For the remainder of the album is continues in a similar fashion. It frequently has a few heavier sections offset by ambiance or more atmospheric riffs. It is this contrast that prevents the album from growing stale over its incredibly lengthy running time.
The music always maintains a creepy and ferocious atmosphere, even during the heavier parts. The Tenth Sub Level of Suicide felt as if darkness was surrounding you. You didn’t know what was going to happen and there was no escape. Here, the darkness is no longer content to sit around quite as much. This album feels as if you entered a previously unexplored network of caves. A gigantic best suddenly attacks you and violently chases you, driving you deeper into the caverns. By the time the first third of the album is over, you are forever lost in its caverns. You stagger around in the suffocating darkness, desperately trying to hide from the ferocious monster. Every few minutes it finds you again and lunges out at you, always allowing you to escape at the last instant. As it continues to toy with you all chance of ever leaving the caverns alive disappears. You will never see the light of day again. By the end of the album, you have died and the knowledge of your death will never leave the cave. No one will ever know where you died, and no one will ever care.
The instruments on this album are all played by Wrest, and are all perfectly done. While none are particularly technical, they all fulfill their purpose with flying colors. The guitars tremolo pick rarely, instead relying on other less common techniques for the majority of the album. They can go between a heavy and ferocious breakdown to an atmospheric wall of sound in seconds. The bass generally backs the guitars, but it has several moments to shine. One of these is A Necessary Mutilation, which occurs around the midway point of the album. The track consists entirely of bass and ambiance; it is slow, minimalist and haunting. Another Bass driven standout is Mouth Orafice Bizzare where the bass tone seems to consist almost entirely of lows and distortion. It seems to embody the very darkness that surrounds the entire album and is executed perfectly. The drums are also excellent. They rarely resort to blasting and make good use of the double bass drum (something which doesn’t seem too common in black metal). Frequently during heavier riffs a cymbal will crash at an odd moment, enforcing the creepiness and tension of the atmosphere.
The vocals are excellent. They are distorted to a degree and they alternate between a very low croak and a higher pitched moan. The lyrics (which are unintelligible without the lyrics sheet or the internet) are very good. They are filled with despair and seem to mock the very idea of hope. They deal with themes of Suicide and Darkness, as do most lyrics in this genre.
The production is very good. It was clearly not done professionally, but it benefits from this. Every instrument (including the bass) is perfectly audible and also at times forms what almost seems like a wall of sound (as much of a contradiction as this seems, it is true).
This is a great album, although I don’t think that it is quite as incredible as Leviathan’s debut. The songs don’t flow together as well, although they still do fit together as a whole they seem more like individual tracks arranged in order rather than a single long journey spread over multiple sections. Still, the songs do fit together quite well and the gain the full effect of the album it must be listened to straight through.
The ambient sections are superb, although there aren’t as many of them as there were in the first album. The heavier sections are better than the last album, but I still think that the prior album’s pacing was better overall. Still, it’s not nearly enough to cripple this release. While the pacing may be inferior to Tenth Sub Level the blend of atmosphere and intensity is still far superior to most other Black Metal.
Despite being marginally inferior to the prior masterpiece, Tentacles of Whorror is still an incredible album. It spans over an hour, but never gets old. It truly immerses you in its dark world, and you won’t want to leave this hellish landscape ever again after you first glimpse its hideous charm. This album stands head and shoulders above the majority of black metal and this is highly recommended for any fan of black metal.