Tag: Leverage
0 New Video – Leverage – Mister Universe
Leverage released a new CD, Blind Fire in January 2008. Check out the single and video, Mister Universe, below.
0 Preview New Tracks from Leverage!
Frontiers Records is excited to announce all details related to LEVERAGE highly anticipated second album entitled “Blind Fire”.
Leverage is a Top Level Melodic Metal band which came out of nowhere in 2006, causing a stir with the release of their debut album “Tides”. Their blend of modern metal sound and old school melody-based songwriting earned rave reviews from the media and created a fanbase both in Finland and throughout the rock community in many countries.
One highlight of the ratings was melodicrock.com naming ‘Tides’ as the best Metal/Prog album of 2006, with 2 songs at the top of their heavy rock song listing. The band’s frontman Pekka Heino (also singer for Brother Firetribe) was also named the vocalist of the year!
“The warm welcome for ‘Tides’ was a pleasant surprise for us” says the band’s guitar player and main composer Tuomas Heikkinen. “We got good radio airplay in Finland, even climbed to the charts, all before our very first gig with our own material! Since then, we’ve played throughout Finland at clubs and festivals. Our music has been described as melodic metal or melodic heavy rock, which is fine by us”. Rock and Metal lovers will easily recognize influences from Rainbow, Magnum, Stratovarius and Masterplan with a light Progressive Metal edge.
“We wanted to plan the second album and the second step of our career carefully” continues Heikkinen “ As a big part of that, we were happy to sign with Frontiers. The songs were all written between the release of ‘Tides’ and entering the studio in July 07. Right from the first demos we knew that the second album will be a great step forward for Leverage. Here’s why: we’re tighter as a band, we know what our own style is and what we might be capable of, and we’re busting our butts to make as solid music as we ever can. We recorded and mixed (Torsti Spoof and Jari Mikkola) the album at Studio Audio, Jyväskylä, Finland between the beginning of July and halfway of September. It was mastered at Chartmakers, Helsinki”
“Blind Fire” will be released in Europe (minus Finland) on Frontiers Records on January 25th 2007. The first reactions to the material are enthusiastic and there are already plans for the band to play live outside their homeland.
Tracklisting of “Blind Fire” includes:
Shadow In The Rain; King Of The Nigh; Stormchild; Sentenced; Hellhorn; Mr. Universe; Don’t Touch The Sun; Run Down; Heart Of Darkness; Learn To Live.
Click on the links above to Preview the new tracks!
“All in all, we are really proud of ‘Blind Fire’” concludes Tuomas Heikkinen. “We worked hard to make the most of the relatively short time between ‘Tides’ and the new one, and we feel we accomplished what we set out to do”.
Frontiers will also release at the same time of the new album a new edition of “Tides” which will also include two exclusive bonus tracks: Superstition (live) and Twilight Symphony (live). Click here to enjoy a sample of “Superstition” from “Tides” !
0 New Leverage Album on the way!
LEVERAGE has finished the production of the yet untitled second album!
“We’re very proud of the new album” states band’s guitarist and main composer Tuomas Heikkinen. “We’ve grown tighter as a band, we’re more in touch with what Leverage really is for us, and we sure pushed ourselves writing, rehearsing and recording. The album has 10 melodic songs that include the heaviest, most intense and on the other hand the most intimate moments we’ve been able to capture so far. We feel ‘Tides’ was the best thing we could come up with at that time, we believe the second album came out as good as we hoped it would now”.
Some of the songs included on the album include “Stormchild”, “Sentenced” (chosen as the lead radio track for the album, soon to be made available for pre-listening on the Frontiers Records my space site), “Run Down”, “Heart of Darkness”, “Run Down” and “Shadow In The Rain”.
3 Leverage – Tides (Release Year – 2006)
Another great find from Finland, is the progressive metal band Leverage. If you are a fan of bands like Dream Theater, I think you are going to like this disc a lot. I would compare this band to a heavy Journey, or a lighter Dream Theater.
Leverage features the excellent vocals of Pekka Heino (Brother Firetribe), Tuomas Heikkinen on guitar, Torsti Spoof on guitar, Pekka Lampinen on bass, Marko Niskala on keys, and Valtteri Revonkorpi on drums.
Every site that I looked into that had any mention of Leverage, was giving their disc, Tides rave reviews, so I had no choice but to check it out myself. I made the rare purchase off of ITunes for this one, as it was available for less than 10 dollars. Tides is a disc full of excellent melodic and progressive metal. The guitars are heavy and chugging, and the keyboards blend well with Pekka Heino’s great voice.
At times Pekka Heino’s voice reminds me of Danny Vaughn from Tyketto. Very Cool!
The live clips below don’t have the greatest of sound, but will give you a very good idea of what you will hear on Tides.
Fifteen Years
Twighlight Symphony
There really isn’t a bad song on this disc, and the sound quality and production on Tides is superb. My favorite tracks are Fifteen Years, Dreamworld, Follow Down that River, and Gone. If you enjoy the hard edged music of Dream Theater, you ought to give Leverage’s Tides a listen. It is a solid effort all the way through, and worth picking up. You can hear more of Leverage’s music, at their myspace here.
Rating:
Out of 10
Track Listing:
- Fifteen Years
- Superstition
- Horizon
- Dreamworld
- Follow Down That River
- Stranger
- Sails
- Marching to War
- Twilight Symphony
- Gone
