Leverage caught my eye when I saw them live a couple of months ago as support for Marko Hietala. Their energy was immediately contagious. They remind me a bit of Avantasia (in particular their album ‘The Scarecrow‘). Their sound is a mix of heavy rock and power metal with some hints of folk and Prog.
Paolo Ribaldinis (also Delain) vocals are incredibly strong and well fitting to the music style of Leverage, he was certainly a good choice to add to the band. The playful songs are easily captivating and caught my attention right form the first time hearing them. Some of the longer songs feel a tad bit bloated and would probably shine more if they were a minute or two shorter. The small clever details are what makes Leverage‘s music stand out in my opinion, unfortunately the mix feels a bit overcrowded and not all little nuances are easily noticeable. Another thing that adds a lot of fun details to the music but isn’t much noticeable no the record is violinist Lotta-Maria Heiskanen who recently joined the band.
It’s fascinating how someone can write such deep and musically intelligent songs and yet make them sound so easily accessible, main songwriter Tuomas Heikkinen did a fantastic job.
Leverage is:
Paolo Ribaldini – all vocals
Tuomas Heikkinen – guitars
Marko Niskala – keyboards
Valtteri Revonkorpi – drums
Sami Norrbacka – bass
Lotta-Maria Heiskanen – violin
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REVIEW SCORE
| 6.8 | Leverage present themself with a new powerful line up. The record is deep and full of small intelligent nuances, yet is extremely easy to listen to. The vocals are suburb and the songwriting is clever. |
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