Saturday, December 7, 2013

Leka "Catopia"




 Felines taking over the world and controlling mankind is an interesting concept.  One Finnish man thought it was worth a death metal project.  Juuso Lienonen is the person pulling most of the strings of his Leka project.  I say most because there is more than one vocalist on his second release "Catopia".

The truth is calling this death metal is a little unfair although it is undeniable that style is the most dominant on Catopia but there are jazz and more traditional rock elements.  The chants at the end of "All Hail The Cat" are reminiscent of Queen.  "The End Starts Now" combines show tunes with Voivod style guitar, Joey Belladonna vocals with a more deathly sound.  This is difficult to make up, mainly because who'd even want to hear that in the first place?  Yet it doesn't sound disjointed and because of the changes in the song grasps the listener's attention.

Leka are the king of surprises.  Just when you think they're getting wimpy and only capable catching small game with fish hooks, they go right ahead and spear you right in the face.  This is much more interesting than just going for straight out brutality.  Most of the times it works although the pop-style singing about intestine eating kittens comes off a little too weak.  There are some great ideas on "Catopia" but not all of them work.  The fluffy ones that do scratch your eyes out.  Check "Catopia" out for yourself on the bandcamp link below.

3/5



http://leka.bandcamp.com/



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