To coincide with the release of their brand new album, Leverage have had their debut reissued by Frontiers as a mid-price CD, complete with a couple of songs which appeared as bonus tracks on the initial release. If therefore you missed out first time round, now is the ideal opportunity to pick up one of the best releases of the last 5 years. 

Leverage are described as “melodic metal” due to having a slightly harder edge than some melodic rock acts, but really that’s just dealing in semantics. If you like music that contains superb songs, great vocals, excellent guitar work and a killer production, then you really need look no further. 

The album kicks off with “Fifteen Years”, which for me remains the highlight of the album and indeed the greatest song the band have ever recorded. The production is immense, filling the room with the type of massive sound you dream could be present for every release. Vocalist Pekka Heino, who also provides vocal duties for Brother Firetribe, immediately asserts himself as a singer in the premium bracket of the genre, full of power yet melody, aggression yet feel. 

We get a full taste of the importance of keyboards to Leverage’s overall sound during “Superstition”, before the awesome “Horizon” enters the fray, building from a vocal intro to a full blown epic with a great chorus. “Dreamworld” is up next and yet more keyboards are very much a feature of the melody of the track, especially the opening passage. “Follow Down That River” is one of the album’s greatest treasures, not far behind the opener for top track plaudits. It opens with some superb guitar work from Nightwish man Tuomas Heikkinen before developing into another great, catchy chorus. 

“Stranger” and “Sails” continue the quality, with Heino’s vocals again shining. “Marching To War” starts with an ominous sounding drum beat, evoking memories of a battlefield, before bursting into life as an up-tempo rocker. Next track, “Twilight Symphony” has an extended intro before Heino roars into the track with another fine performance, building to one of the best choruses on the album. The album originally closed with “Gone”, a monster power ballad, Leverage style. A really classy track. 

To me, bonus tracks are often songs that didn’t make it to the final cut because, quite frankly, they aren’t as good as anything else on the album, but “Waterfall” is a definite exception to this rule and is in fact one of the best tracks on the package, with its insistent melody coursing throughout the song. New closer “Land Of Flames” is also a decent track, very much keeping to the quality formula of the rest of the album. 

Overall, this is a hugely enjoyable and classy release and one which you should definitely take the opportunity to pick up at mid-price if you do not already own it. Leverage announced themselves very firmly at the top of the melodic metal genre with this awesome debut…could they repeat it with their follow up ??

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Track Listing

Fifteen Years
Superstition
Horizon
Dreamworld
Follow Down That River
Stranger
Sails
Marching to War
Twilight Symphony
Gone
Waterfall
Land Of Flames

Line Up

Pekka Heino - Vocals
Tuomas Heikkinen - Guitars
Torsti Spoof - Guitars
Pekka Lampinen - Bass
Valtteri Revonkorpi - Drums
Marko Niskala - Keyboards