Scenes of devastation, a man in corpse paint and a spidery logo point to one thing: black metal. The man in question is Leviathan who has been weaving his solo warmongering since 2003 after playing with other Yorkshire-based black metal bands.
The title roughly translates as “War of Everyone against Everyone Else” and this is part of the picture of devastation which adorns the cover of the album. “Earth Decimated” sets the scene. It is a piece of utterly evil and blasting black metal with fiery vocals and punishing drums. It does deviate from the norm of black grimness with a burst of almost psychedelic guitar work. The result is an impressive mix of carefully constructed evil and chaos. “Eternities of Suffering Endured” is then led by more thunderous drums to a customary background of turbulence. Like the first track, the blackness subsides momentarily and gives way to classic metal but growls and darkness continue to provide an overwhelming presence. A technical passage starts and for a short section it is calmer, melodic and epic. Such sections both run alongside and contrast with the ferocious black metal, which is always there. A good quality of this work is that it never stops moving. “Eternities of Suffering Endured” finishes with a flourish.
What I did find with “Bellum Omnium contra Omnes” was that all ten tracks followed a similar pattern – total and raging blackness, hooky riffs with a few twists here and there and a constant reminder of the cold and inhospitable black metal which forms the backbone. “Beast of the Depths” starts with dark beatings before one of those hooky riffs cuts in. The lingering creates the faintest hint of melancholy before the assault re-commences. Throughout Leviathan demonstrates great technical proficiency and range. There’s a kind of casual air at times where a good musician is trying out a few riffs. But although there there’s an old-fashioned natural feel, it can be complex and the excellent production quality gets the best out of the styles. Darkness continues to rumble on, sometimes as if Leviathan is racing through a forest at night, at others with more twisting melodies and even majesty. On a smaller scale, there’s a hint of Emperor about this. “Behold the Trinity Pained and Rotten” has all the qualities. Regaled with turbulence, twisting rhythms and blasts, the tempo slows down. An imperious melody peeks through the uncompromising, disease-ridden blackness. After “A Pig Hung in Golgotha”, a heavy explosion of energy, the hard-hitting “Necessary Evil” rounds off the album. Again it combines the qualities of the previous nine tracks: intensity, power, brutality, occasional melody and unbridled ferocity and devastation.
Each of the tracks of this album has a similar development and similar qualities musically, and perhaps it’s for that reason that it didn’t entirely capture me. It’s head-ripping, nihilistic stuff paying lyrical homage to eternal torture, hell and hatred but its musical face presents a slightly different face in parts. At the end of the day, “Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes” distinguishes itself through its technical excellence and is a fine album, capturing in its own way the spirit of black metal.
(7/10 Andrew Doherty)
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