Leviathan: Howl Mockery at the Cross (2005)

Continuing on with my trek through a bunch of Leviathan releases is this compilation released the same year as yesterday's subject.  Howl Mockery at the Cross was also the name of one of Leviathan's 2002 demos.  This, however, is a collection of a bunch of demo tracks and some previously unreleased material put together for a limited release, possibly to alleviate the concerns of those believing Leviathan was headed in an ambient direction. 

It starts off in kind of an interesting way, with the majestic sound of horns heralding the onset of the album, followed shortly thereafter by an imposing spoken word section from Wrest.  But far from being a light and melodic song as might be thought from the intro, the opening track is as raw as raw black metal can be.  The first few songs are pretty decent, being an accurate prelude to what Leviathan would sound like on their first album. 

Unfortunately, not every song on this is as impressive as the first few songs.  Leviathan is celebrated for their ability to craft memorable songs that are unique and well-crafted and that are unlike other traditional black metal bands.  But some of the songs here are highly reminiscent of bands that have come before.  "Liar of Nazareth" is a pretty good song, but it has a distinctly Scandinavian sound to it, sounding like something that would be released by Satyricon or Gorgoroth.  Other songs sound like out-takes that were rejected from inclusion on an album or ideas that were not fully formed.  "S.W.O.L. 2001" is slow and mostly boring, being something in between black metal and ambient.  And then there is the Death in June cover, a song that sounds completely out of place on a Leviathan release.  It's not that it is bad, it just does not fit.

This is far from an essential release by Leviathan.  There are not many must-hear tracks and there are a lot of rather mediocre ones.  I can only recommend this to fans of the band and it absolutely should not be a starting point for Leviathan.