"What did I just listen to?" you ask yourself as the opening track entitled, "Primitive Baptism", on the smashing new LP from King Leviathan comes to a close. "Paean Heretica", while hailed by most reviewers/critics as blackened Thrash, proves to be so much more than just that. This is beyond mere Metal; this is a bona fide phenomenon of musical genius! The answer to the aforementioned question is this: "You just listened to a little bit of everything, my dear friend, and it is pure perfection."

King Leviathan, to this reviewer, is about as Progressive as Metal can get. Comparisons are hard to draw when something is this original, but one can definitely hear shades of newer BORKNAGAR material, a spattering of older SYSTEM OF A DOWN, and plenty of influence via the neo-black persuasion (i.e. WATAIN and FUNERAL MIST).

The five opening tracks on this massive Metal monument take hold instantly, and their ebb and flow are absolutely flawless. Amazing hammering and tremolo picking in between vocals that switch seamlessly from guttural roars to clean chants in the blink of an eye. Track five, "Doomsayer", is an exemplary one, destroying everything in its path until the end, when it winds down into its trancelike nadir of dual layered vocals over blasting beats that seem almost primitively meditative.

Then comes track six, with the inventive title, "Coffin Swallower". A song that just slays; this is nothing short of a new kind of Metal anthem; a creature born of black blood and demonic incantations who lives for the utter death and destruction wrought by humanity. As the album quickly progresses, so does its intensity and ability to span multiple soundscapes repeatedly without ruining the catchiness at its core - a feat that few musicians in history have been able to exhibit to perfection.

The last two tracks are both longer mantras, and further showcase KING LEVIATHAN's musical talent and Metal prowess that are guaranteed to satisfy even the most elite Metalhead's cravings for something new and exciting. "Paean Heretica" is absolutely relentless in its darkness, poetic in its lyrics, and captivating from start to finish. I'm happy to say that there's not much like this out there right now, nor has there ever been before, and that happiness stems from the fact that when it comes to creating something truly original and ingenious, such as this particular tour de force, there can be only one; the rest are just lost in the ever-swelling seas of distortion and screams that fight to be realized along with the rest. In short, this is a near-perfect representation of why this reviewer got into Metal, as a whole, in the first place. This is a masterpiece.<