Reviews: Leverage, Professor Emeritus, Byonoisegenerator, King's Hammer (Matt Bladen & Mark Young)

Leverage - Gravity (Frontiers Music Srl) [Matt Bladen]

Leverage have been a name on the melodic metal scene since 2002, they've got five albums behind them at this point and their fair share of turmoil too. But they do seem to consistently produce records that stand alone. 

Not quite AOR, not quite power metal, but something in between where they can sip into either and not sound forced. Gravity is their sixth record and their first with new singer Paolo Ribaldini who took over the mantle from Kimmo Blom who tragically passed in 2022 and also the album debut of violin player Lotya-Maria Heiskanen.

So this is Leverage Mark 3 and while Ribaldini's vocals give Leverage their third excellent singer in a row it's Heiskanen who adds a new dimension to tracks like Moon Of Madness where they're used as part of the melodic trio with Marko Niskala keys and Tuomas Heikkinen's guitars. Rounding out the band are drummer Valtteri Revonkorpi and bassist Sami Norrbacka, their bottom end giving the band their anthemic drive, be it all out power metal or bouncy AOR.

Recording six albums in over 20 years is no mean feat but on Gravity they evolve their sound with the addition of violin, as one of the lead instrument, it means they can bring some Middle Eastern promise to Eliza or when they go off on a Rainbow-like flight in the middle of the swaggering heavy rock of All Seeing Eye. 

Leverage are a band who are always just out on their own, there's a plethora of bands signed to Frontiers who have tried to emulate their power AOR metal but the originals still have the ability to advance their style. 8/10

Professor Emeritus - A Land Long Gone (No Remorse Records) [Matt Bladen]

Chicago’s Professor Emeritus (the science loving brother of Ghost’s former frontman/) are what would of happened if, when Bruce Dickinson left Iron Maiden in the early 90’s he joined an epic doom band like Candlemass. 

Esteban Julian Pena has a voice that often moves into the realms of the ‘Air Raid Siren’ be it on the beefy opener A Corpse’s Dream, or the Grand Magus chug of Passage, he puts the epic into this epic doom but this Professor has a PhD in riffs and Lee Smith (guitas/keys), Jose Salazar (bass) and Tyler Antram (lead guitar) keep them coming with the chunky Pragmatic Occlusion and Defeater, the latter driven by Chris Avgerin’s drumbeats. 

They don’t just languish in heavy though as the psychedelic Zosimos has some scaling leads while Hubris takes acoustics into Blind Guardian moments, the band balancing the NWOBHM gallops with the slow, wall shaking doom riffs on tracks such as Kalopsia Caves. In the past few years the ‘epic doom’ tag has gotten more and more traction but Professor Emeritus take it back to the beginnings with nods to Candlemass, Cathedral and also bands such as Grand Magus (pre-Iron Will). 

If Bruce had done this instead of Skunkworks, perhaps the world would be a different place, still that’s A Land Long Gone and we have a vision of it from Professor Emeritus’ second album. 8/10

Byonoisegenerator - Subnormal Dives (Transcending Obscurity) [Mark Young]

Well, I think I’ve just listened to the most out there, batshit, mental album I’m likely to hear in 2025. I know that is a bold statement but by the cringe, any other band would have to go a far distance to go anywhere near the levels of madness on display here. This is going a relatively short review; in that I don’t think I have the required levels of verbosity to do it justice. Returning after 7 years with what they term as an album of Jazzgrind and it is as unhinged as you might think. 

Rather than try to talk through each of the tracks in isolation which wouldn’t even scratch the surface of what they do on here you should take the whole album as being something that shouldn’t work and that on paper should absolutely detest but it’s a fantastic 23 minute long torture device that is designed to blow your mind. 

Each track is a fully contained explosion of creativity where nothing is off the table except that it has to hit hard. And it does, with wave after wave of destructive noise that fully brings jazz into the conversation. This isn’t a case of paying lip service to the idea, it’s a full-on embrace and the nearest frame of reference I have to anything like this is Mr Bungle who explored similar themes on Disco Volante and saying that it wasn’t as focused as this, having more of a shotgun approach to it.

What is apparent is that this is not coming from a place where its being done as a novelty item, its driven by a love of what they do and the fact that they have the technical ability to back it up makes this a unique experience. I’ve no idea who to recommend this to; Do grindcore fans like a bit of sax? Who knows, but this is one of the most original releases you will hear this year. If you consider yourself to be someone who likes to try new things then you have to give this a go. 8/10

Kings Hammer - To Speak in Tongues (Rottweiler/Broken Curfew Records) [Mark Young]

And from one extreme to another as King's Hammer steps up to the oche with a 5 song EP that see’s the sole member (Chuck Weatherman of Shovelhead A.D.) step away from that band to show off his skills in a different, but no less extreme area of metal. What I can say about this straight from the off is that it has a certain sound to it, almost like there has been a conscious effort to approximate a particular feel or possibly an era. 

Whatever the approach, its not quite lo-fi but in the same manner it doesn’t possess the same level of clarity you might expect from modern recordings. Actually, that is probably doing it a disservice. You can hear everything, its just that it seems to be compressed to the point where it feels like all life has been squeezed out of it. Putting that to one side, it’s a decent set of songs that fit within the death metal arena quite well. 

The War In Heaven has an ominous start with a crawling riff that keeps it on a steady footing until a switch is thrown and a little pace is thrown into the mix. Even in the speedier sections there is a tight focus, with everything played out in a controlled fashion. Going back to my comment on how it sounds, it reminds me of 90s death metal in that there was sometimes an overall vibe of the recording hitting you in the face like a brick, a solid force if you will. 

That is what I’m taking from this and as Vehement Zeal kicks in with its stop/start sequences it does take you back to that time. Whether that was a conscious decision on Chuck’s behalf, I’ve no idea but there are a ton of little touches in its run time that shout back to that time. What you have is a song that mixes in the slow crushing steps with faster moments and it’s done well without being anything you haven’t heard before.

Wrath Descends keeps the action coming and it is more of the same, which again sounds like I am being unfair. It keeps the same level of intent generated and has the same set up as The War and Vehement and it just does its thing, staying within the death metal staples we love. That is the thing, I don’t believe that this is an exercise in trying to do something new, its more for Chuck to be able to spread his wings and do something that is personal to him and its stamped all over here. Crusade IX and Witches Bvrn both stay within the parameters established and do what they need to do. 

That old school vibe is alive and running through everything and to be honest it is refreshing. Here is a set of songs that have been written that you can just listen to, its not asking you to get onboard with super low tunings or flavour of the month production. It is an honest and in a lot of ways authentic, traditional death metal release. Its not expecting to set the world on fire or be lauded as something new. Fans of old school death should check it out because it does everything you want from that era, low vocals, speedy riffs, double bass all wrapped up in quick order. 8/10