Fall of Leviathan - In Waves

A Closer Listen

The experience starts with a beautiful cover, painted by Jéromine Schaller for Swiss post-metal collective Fall of Leviathan.  The theme and tone hearken back to Neil on Impression’s classic L’Oceano del onde che restano onde per sempre, with both cinematic and literary styles intact.  It will come as no surprise that the album is inspired by Moby Dick, the monologue of opener “Nantucket” leading to closer “Akhab,” which recalls Ahab’s descent to the abyss.  Fall of Leviathan has been leading up to this opus all year, first with a single, than a three-track EP, and now finally this six-track double LP in marbled clear and blue.

“Nantucket” alone is worth the price of admission, a patient post-rock build ceding space to the narrative breakdown, followed by an eruption of drums and guitars, while synthesizer mimics a string section.  At 7:47, it’s the album’s second shortest track.  We’re settled in for the long haul, like a trip across the sea, or the hunt for the great white whale.  As the tracks grow in length (peaking with the 13-minute “Pacific”), one starts to ask an unusual question: how can an album with so much power and so many crescendos also be so lulling?  The answer is obvious: the band has managed to capture the feeling of the open ocean, the highs and lows, but also the repetition, broken by spurts of wild activity: flying foam and crashing waves. Should the stage set be a hull, all the more fitting.

“Pacific” begins with an attack before calming down.  Again the synthesizers provide an elevation of drama.  When it grows quiet, it does so quickly, less than two minutes in.  The captain is not yet mad; or at least, not as mad as he will be.  There are still moments of reverie to be had, of respite, of reflection upon race and class and purpose and revenge.  At exactly the halfway mark, the music stops, taking its bearings, establishing its course, and once it plunges forward, it has gone too far to turn back.  The piece ends in an extended drone, a harbinger of doom, only to relent with the early placidity of “Spermwhale,” the only track short enough to be a (long) single.  As expected, the calm lasts but a minute, although the subsequent surges rise and fall, preserving the harmonic balance, the ship remaining – for now – afloat.

During fleeting moments in “Red Waves,” one can hear the gulls between the guitars, or rather, a repetition of gulls, a memory more than a vision.  Soon all this will be left behind.  “Ahkab” begins with a squall and a crash.  The captain is not himself; he has set events in motion that will destroy all, saving only Ishmael.  A second vocal sample, this one a dialogue, brings the album full circle.  I shall be waiting for him, intones the captain.  And yet fate waits for him.  As the captain is dragged down, fathom by fathom, one understands the metaphor.  The soundtrack swirls and surfaces and sinks, sympathetic, yet without the power to intervene.

In Waves is ambitious, majestic, all-encompassing.  After only an hour, one feels as if one has been out on the wild, wild seas, and returned to tell the story, harrowed yet honed. (Richard Allen)

Angry Metal Guy

As you may guess by its minimalist cover art, Fall of Leviathan takes inspiration from the ocean. Its placid surface, an unassuming miles-wide smile at the sun, and its brutal depth, a guttural roar and a gnashing of magnificent teeth, quietly collide to create a face that looks down upon man as he stands atop it, his hubris an engorgement of sails and a swelling of his chest. When faced with its might, the relentless apathy and his insignificance in the face of mountainous waves and the abyss at our rocky borders, man crumbles – sand castles deserted by distracted children. Fall of Leviathan embodies this dichotomy: sunbathed beauty and sunless brutality.

Swiss instrumental post-metal act Fall of Leviathan offers its debut with In Waves, its maritime and abyssal aspirations recalling the disparate offerings of Ahab, The Ocean, Giant Squid, or Thermohaline. Balancing the shimmer of the sun upon the ripples with the crushing weight of the ocean floor, its promo promises a combination of Mogwai and Neurosis in its post-rock-focused meditation. Guitarists Régis Mérillat and Marc Wattenhofer balance melody for density seamlessly, graced by the ethereality and noise of composer Loïc Fleury’s synths, anchored by the low end of bassist David Seuret and drummer Emma Richon. Not easily pigeonholed in the sector of post-metal, every member, even Richon and Seuret, maneuvers each passage and composition with dynamics, grace, and subtlety in mind. The result is an evocative, if imperfect, image of the oceans.

In Waves by Fall Of Leviathan

In Waves flows with the fluidity of the water it seeks to conjure, as each track feels like another log entry in a journey that ends in a strangely beautiful oceanic tragedy. Fall of Leviathan, despite its lack of lyrics, offers its own array of voices and languages, namely the guitars and synths and their uses of minor and major chord interplay. The subdued and vulnerable “Red Bay” sees this conversation: warbling synth gives way to melodic plucking and back again, a progression that feels purposeful, mysterious, and expansive. It’s a dialogue set to crescendo whose conclusion does not disappoint, when the emotional weight tugs on the throat in a revelation yet to find words. On the other hand, “Spermwhale” hits with a weight as colossal and intimidating as Ahab’s pursuit of the white whale, thick sludge riffs dominating its relatively brief runtime in a portrayal of the crushing depths. Epics “Nantucket,” “Pacific,” and closer “Akhab” offer the best in this crossroads of oceans, dark and dense riffs colliding with haunting leads in the dash of ocean spray and hushed voices in subtle guitar and spoken word samples – the thunderous mouth full of lightning words and wave syntax.

Fall of Leviathan offers the oceans. The five-piece does not aim to be another Pelican or Russian Circles, whose earthen post-metal weight are a clear partner with heavenly ethereality. In Waves’ motives are unclear. As a result, the tones range from heart-wrenching to devastating to tragic across its hefty 56-minute runtime, and difficult to pigeonhole. While the atmosphere conjures a place you will likely not forget, the specific movements of how you got there may get lost in time. Like any tapestry worth its merit, it nearly perfect portrays the overall and summative picture of crashing waves, but its individual threads may not shine. The title track, for instance, doesn’t carry the same weighted quality being wedged in between “Nantucket” and “Pacific,” hindered by its inability to satisfyingly capitalize upon its mammoth crescendo.

Fall of Leviathan has created something truly special with In Waves. While the emphasis pushes individual performance to the wayside, its sonic conjuring of the colossal oceans and all their beauty and violence is truly something to behold. It’s over-long, even if this level of ambition requires it, and the emphasis on atmosphere sans vocals may be divisive.¹ However, for those looking for escape into a world awed by the massive expanse of water and the secrets it may hold, venture forth upon In Waves – humbly.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Vitruve Records
Websites: facebook.com/FallOfLeviathan | fallofleviathan.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: March 1st, 2024

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