Description

Black vinyl with gatefold cover and insert. Limited 300 copies

The Levitation Hex debut definitely wasn’t something for metal traditionalists, and the same is true for their sophomore album “Cohesion”. It is another case of extraordinary music that will mainly appeal to people who don’t place any constraints on their taste in music. Adam Agius, frontman of the Australian four-piece explains the goal the band had for their second album: “Our goals were purely to create music that the band members were happy with. We don’t follow any trends and see music as an expression of our selves. We did try and change things up a bit for our own interest and had a very broad scope for the creation of ‘Cohesion’. We kept it simple and at times pretty upbeat. We are happy with the result so I guess you can say we achieved our goals.” To many reviewers the Levitation Hex debut was the logical consequence of what they had been doing with Alchemist, especially during “Tripsis” days, only a bit simpler and heavier – would Adam say that “Cohesion” goes down the same road, or are The Levitation Hex eventually emancipating themselves from Alchemist? Adam on this: “I would say that ‘were finding our own sound now and it came together very naturally hence the title Cohesion. I think the most Alchemist sounding song is ‘Waste of Worry’. I don’t think too much about it as I can only be myself but yes, I guess we are moving away from the Alchemist sound and moving into our own identity.” The album has been in the making since 2013. Seen from the outside, one can assume that it must be a real effort to come up with so many complex ideas – but Adam finds this question rather puzzling, and he also has to say some interesting things about what metal has become like these days: “We just don’t understand how people can think its complex. It’s pretty straightforward with most of the tune still in 4/4. It was time-consuming to put it all together but I would not say that it was difficult. People who might say it’s complex are probably looking at it from a traditional rock or metal perspective and that’s fine, but I can honestly say my guitar parts are very simple indeed. We think that metal has become very unrebellious and bands are just happy to re-create the music of their heroes. Many fans will not even consider listening to music that does not fit inside a neat little box and that’s something we are not interested in creating, even if that means we won’t be popular.” “Cohesion” brims with a variety of sounds and moods you don’t usually get from a run-of-the-mill metal record. It also includes mellotron and organ parts, but no synthesizers at all – a fact that was of great importance to Adam: “We like the use of instruments other than guitar to flavour certain sections of the music. In the past I had used synthesizers many times in Alchemist and as I said before, I wanted to move away from the Alchemist sound, so I decided that there would be no synths at all on this album, and I really like the eerie sound the mellotron creates.” “Cohesion” is a lot like the debut in that it’s impossible to put a label on the music – it is simply too unique and multifarious, cherry-picking from Stoner & Space Rock, Psychedelic and 70s progressive rock, all based on a solid ground of old school Thrash and Death Metal.

Track list:
1. Disrate
2. Energy Refund
3. Amygdala
4. The Things Time Can’t Mend
5. Sleeping Synapse
6. Buried In A World
7. Hipokritikill
8. The Reflection
9. Waste Of Worry