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Megaton Leviathan Update on Lineup and New Album Progress

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 15th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

The numbers don’t lie, but it sure feels like longer than three years since the last time Portland drone-psych ritualizers Megaton Leviathan released an album. Led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Andrew James Costa Reuscher, who founded the band a decade ago as a solo-project, Megaton Leviathan go into their next offering as a full-on troupe — a six-piece outfit — who no doubt will be driven to realize and expand on the wash that has typified the project’s deep-running and richly textured work since the outset. Do I have any prediction what their next record might sound like? None whatsoever. Do I dare to hazard a guess? Not on your life.

What I do find particularly encouraging about Megaton Leviathan expanding their lineup, however, is that it would seem to signal things are going to get weirder, and I don’t see any possible way that could hurt them. I wouldn’t rush it, but I’m looking forward to this one for sure, whenever it might arrive.

From the PR wire:

megaton leviathan

Megaton Leviathan Announce Lineup Additions, Studio Album in Progress

In the three years since Megaton Leviathan released their last album, 2014’s critically acclaimed “Past 21,” Andrew James Costa Reuscher and Mort Subite have been diligently creating new material to meet and exceed Megaton’s reputation for fusing disparate elements into new, borderline narcotic compositions.

To help facilitate this goal, several new members have been drafted in both studio and live capacities, including ex Lord Dying drummer Jonathan Reid, vocalist and concert violinist Andrea Morgan, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Travis Hathaway, and bassist Trejen. This new, diversely talented cast has already inspired unexpected creative reward in the studio, and will no doubt entrance live audiences worldwide as Megaton Leviathan take to the road once again to support their presently incubating goliath later this year.

Since 2007 Megaton Leviathan have been concocting an increasingly discriminating solution of heavy rock, psychedelia, shoegaze and more, one distinctive album at a time. Originally a solo project consisting of little more than multi-instrumentalist Andrew James Costa Reuscher and a strong desire to create, various impermanent collaborators would augment this lineup for several years, including drummer Matt Brim and bassist Chris Beug, whose orchestral influence would permanently transfigure Megaton’s sound. Varying permutations of these players would propel the band through its first two full length releases and several US tours.

In the aftermath of a lineup overhaul in 2014, producer/multi-instrumentalist Mort Subite signed on to mix the band’s third full length, Past 21. Proving vital to the new direction and creative core of the band, Subite remained and he and Costa Reuscher successfully navigated several independent tours in support of the then new material.

In the wake of Past 21, an even further evolved Megaton Leviathan has washed up on uncharted shores. Swathing deeper into territories unknown, and gaining refugees from the storm, Costa Reuscher and Subite have assembled a crew of talented and creative minds eager to push the boundaries of drone, rock, psychedelia, post punk and beyond. Past 21 saw Megaton Leviathan experimenting with the likes of kraut-rock, darkwave, and even orchestral themes. The impending full length will continue these flirtations as a full on romance, met with even stranger partners in the ever expanding theater of the real.

Megaton Leviathan is:
Andrew James Costa- Guitars, bass,Vocals, Synthesizers, effects, sound loops.
Mort Subite- Live Sound , Engineer, Misc / 2014 current synth,sound engineer, vocals, guitar
Trejen -Bass 2017-
Jon Reid drums – 2017
Travis Hathaway rhythm guitar/ acoustic guitar
Andrea Morgan – Violin, Vocals

https://www.facebook.com/Megaton-Leviathan-185853803548/
https://megatonleviathan.bandcamp.com

Megaton Leviathan, “Past 21”

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audiObelisk Transmission 039

Posted in Podcasts on August 26th, 2014 by JJ Koczan

Click Here to Download

 

Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!

This one’s a couple minutes shorter than the last few have been, but lacks nothing for substance, and particularly after YOB‘s “Marrow,” anything I put at the end would’ve just been filler to meet some imaginary obligation on my part. If you feel like you’re lacking the four minutes, give me a call and we’ll chat about records for the rest of that time. It’ll be a hoot. In any case, I think there’s plenty here to sink into — stuff that for a lot of people, myself included, will be on year-end lists and albums for which 2014 will be remembered when all is said and done. Two of my four current contenders for Album of the Year are featured, first and last.

Parts of this podcast are gorgeous, parts are ugly, but I think everything here holds up in terms of quality and listening back, I like the way this one gets immersive with a mix of longer tracks and shorter ones, slower and faster, etc. As always, I hope you enjoy, and I thank you sincerely for taking the time to check it out.

First Hour:
Lo-Pan, “Regulus” from Colossus (2014)
Steak, “Liquid Gold” from Slab City (2014)
The Well, “Mortal Bones” from Samsara (2014)
Orange Goblin, “The Devil’s Whip” from Back from the Abyss (2014)
Kvlthammer, “Hesh Trip” from Kvlthammer (2014)
Snailking, “To Wonder” from Storm (2014)
Earth, “From the Zodiacal Light” from Primitive and Deadly (2014)
Pallbearer, “Watcher in the Dark” from Foundations of Burden (2014)
Sorxe, “Her Majesty” from Surrounded by Shadows (2014)

Second Hour:
Humo del Cairo, “Tres” from Preludio EP (2014)
Joy, “Miles Away” from Under the Spell Of… (2014)
Megaton Leviathan, “Past 21” from Past 21: Beyond the Arctic Cell (2014)
Bong, “Blue at Noon” from Haikai No Ku – Ultra High Dimensionality LP (2014)
YOB, “Marrow” from Clearing the Path to Ascend (2014)

Total running time: 1:53:47

 

Thank you for listening.

Download audiObelisk Transmission 039

 

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Megaton Leviathan Ready Past 21: Beyond the Arctic Cell for Release on Seventh Rule

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 5th, 2014 by JJ Koczan

If you didn’t hear Megaton Leviathan‘s Water Wealth Hell on Earth (review here) when it was released in 2011, you’re probably going to want to stop reading this sentence immediately and get to whatever outlet will allow you to put it in your ears the fastest. An all-consuming wash of psych-doom experimentation that called forth black metal’s buzz but expanded the scope beyond genre confines. There were times throughout that album where it was simply too much to take, but wow, what a sound.

Band spearhead Andrew James Costa Reuscher has had a few limited releases out since then, and there was first discussion of an allegiance with Seventh Rule — now also based in Portland, OR — back in late 2012, but not much word has come out of a new album since. Enter Past 21: Beyond the Arctic Cell as the first Megaton Leviathan full-length in three years and mark me down as on-fucking-board. As you can see in the live clip below, the drone wash is in full effect, and Megaton Leviathan offer all the ritual with none of the “cult” silliness of many of their contemporaries. Much as they have any.

Past 21: Beyond the Arctic Cell is out Sept. 9:

MEGATON LEVIATHAN: Psychedelic Doom Masters Release Sophomore Full-Length Via Seventh Rule Next Month; Summer Live Performances Confirmed

The only constant is change. Standing in stark contrast to the droning, gorgeous slabs of psychedelic and atmospherically infused doom that comprise the aural output of MEGATON LEVIATHAN, the band itself has been in a constant state of flux since its inception in 2007. By the end of 2012, despite the official announcement of a new album, not only that album, but the fate of the entire project itself were positioned beneath a very precariously dangled sword. Circumstance and internal conflict nearly saw the band’s next major release a specter with no corporeal form. However, after a redoubling of effort, a reshuffling of the deck and some inevitable missteps along the way, MEGATON LEVIATHAN’s second full length album, Past 21: Beyond The Arctic Cell, has emerged from the chaos of its birth pangs, prepared to thoroughly swath a blazing path through the dense forest of the modern musical landscape.

Mixed by Mort Subite (V.I.I.R.L., Alfheimr, Benighted in Sodom live), MEGATON LEVIATHAN’s newest resident thaumaturgist, Past 21 is a near lethal dose of solemn audio narcotic, shifting the listener somewhere outside the realm of space-time for the duration of its dissociative transduction from speakers to brain. Glacial, yet burning with divine fire, Past 21’s spell is simultaneously whispered in a hallowed chapel, and torn from a throat rent by the gnashing of teeth.

Past 21: Beyond The Arctic Cell Track Listing:
1. Past 21
2. The Foolish Man
3. Arctic Cell
4. Here Come The Tears

In April of 2014, MEGATON founder and lone original member, Andrew James Costa Reuscher and Subite took Past 21 on the road for a first round of West Coast dates as a one man show/performance piece, featuring heavy visual elements, Reuscher the unifying human component, and Subite as the hidden hand, mixing live audio. MEGATON LEVIATHAN later tapped V.I.I.R.L. drummer Markus Covello to join the onstage lineup. With Reuscher handling vocal and guitar operations, and Subite continuing his live audio duties, this revamped, three-man cast will form the core of the MEGATON LEVIATHAN live experience for the duration of the forthcoming West Coast dates surrounding Deadfest in Oakland where the band will perform alongside the likes of Ephemeros, Connoisseur, Augurs and more. See confirmed dates below.

MEGATON LEVIATHAN Live 2014:
8/09/2014 Megaton House (cassette release show) – Portland, OR
8/14/2014 Ink Annex – Eureka, CA
8/15/2014 Dead Fest – Oakland, CA
8/16/2014 Rock Shop – San Jose, CA
8/17/2014 Starlight Lounge – Sacramento, CA
8/24/2014 Hive Portland, OR * LP Release Show
8/30/2014 TBA – Bozeman, MT
8/31/2014 Black Sparrow Tattoo Club – Billings, MT
9/02/2014 TBA
9/03/2014 Quarters – Milwaukee, WI
9/04/2014 Ghost House – Bloomington, IN
9/05/2014 5th Quarter Lounge – Indianapolis, IN
9/06/2014 TBA
9/07/2014 Acheron – Brooklyn, NY
9/08/2014 Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA
9/09/2014 The Crown – Baltimore, MD
9/10/2014 Static Age – Asheville, NC
9/12/2014 Springwater – Nashville, TN
9/14/2014 Siberia – New Orleans, LA
9/15/2014 TBA – Austin, TX
9/16/2014 TBA – Dallas, TX
9/18/2014 Bar Bar – Denver, CO

Past 21: Beyond The Arctic Cell will be released via Seventh Rule Recordings on September 9th, 2014. Further info including track teasers to be unveiled in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

http://megatonleviathan.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Megaton-Leviathan/185853803548
http://www.seventhrule.com
http://instagram.com/seventhrule
http://seventhrulerec.tumblr.com/
http://twitter.com/seventhrule

Megaton Leviathan, Live at First Church of the Buzzard, April 19, 2014

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Megaton Leviathan Sign to Seventh Rule, Lose a Member and Have a New Album in the Works

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 10th, 2012 by JJ Koczan

The latest update from Portland, Oregon-based hyper-droners Megaton Leviathan is nothing if not an efficient declaration of relevant info. In a relatively short few paragraphs, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Andrew James Costa informs that the band has signed with Seventh Rule Recordings — an awesome fit — and that Chris Beug has left the band, and also that they have a new album in the works. It’s a lot going on in a relatively minimal announcement, and considering their songs have a tendency to psychedelically meander for upwards of a half-hour, a longer treatise wouldn’t necessarily have been out of character.

Nonetheless, quick and to the point with this from Megaton Leviathan‘s Thee Facebooks page:

Dear friends of Megaton Leviathan

I’m putting out a direct statement to those of you who are closest to the band.

Over the last month Megaton Leviathan attempted to record our 2nd full-length album. After much set backs, schedule changes, conflicts, and the lack of communication the recent attempt at a collaborative effort between Chris and I had dissolved, is the best way I can put it. The end
result is that Chris Beug is no longer a member of Megaton Leviathan

It boils down to this; I am completely unwilling to rush and compromise the creative process or output of this project. Megaton Leviathan is the result of years of hard work, and my desire to mix all of the things I love into one art project. I am very grateful for all the experiences I have had over the years, good bad and indifferent. For they have shaped what this project has become.

It will not go without saying Chris was instrumental in getting Megaton Leviathan out of the studio and on the road, is responsible for a lot of its image and made many sacrifices along the way just as I have. For the record it has been a emotional week.

Megaton Leviathan is still very much alive. I have recently joined forces with 7th Rule records here in Portland, and he has been very supportive through this. With his help and the support of my friends this album will get done, and see the light of day sometime in 2013. It wont be the album I thought it was going to be, but it’s going to be the album it’s meant to be. That’s psychedelic isn’t it?

Andrew James Costa Reuscher

More tba.

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Megaton Leviathan, Water Wealth Hell on Earth: Delivering the Drone

Posted in Reviews on March 23rd, 2011 by JJ Koczan

Released by Spanish imprint Féretro Records in a limited edition CD run of 500, the full-length debut by psyched-out Portland, Oregon (where else?), doomly droners Megaton Leviathan doesn’t so much walk the fine line between hypnotic ambience and crushing aural plod as much as it demolishes it. Three songs spread over four tracks – the opening title cut is split into two parts – Water Wealth Hell on Earth takes an American shoegaze-style post-rock approach to heavy riffing and spaces it out with multiple running effects on vocals, guitar and drums, underlying psychedelic noise and drone excursions that seem to lead nowhere until you actually arrive. It’s a skillfully crafted aesthetic – surprisingly so for the trio’s first album following just a demo (they formed in 2007) – and what becomes abundantly clear in listening to Water Wealth Hell on Earth is that Megaton Leviathan know exactly what they’re doing. Even if some of the noises captured on “Water Wealth Hell on Earth” parts one and two, “Guns and LSD” and the sprawling 33-minute closer “A Slow Death in D Minor” just happened in the studio spontaneously, no doubt core duo Andrew James Costa (guitar, vocals, synth, noise) and Chris Beug (bass, violin, viola, cello; ex-Wolves in the Throne Room) had some idea of what they wanted to come out with when they went into the recording process.

For the first run of Water Wealth Hell on Earth (the band have threatened re-recordings), Costa and Beug are joined by drummer Kathryn Joy, and though they could probably just as easily have done without percussion altogether, they definitely made the right move in anchoring the material. Immediately on “Water Wealth Hell on Earth Pt. I” – arguably the most straightforward of the songs – it’s Joy tasked with keeping the ultra-heavy, ultra-spaced guitar from simply floating away. Her snare sound is caked in reverb as well, only adding to the otherworldly feel, and while that might turn some off, I think it works for what Megaton Leviathan are doing – i.e. trippring musical balls. Joy, already out of the band and replaced by Jason of No You Yes Me for the purposes at least of touring, isn’t making or breaking Water Wealth Hell on Earth as regards her drumming, but she’s adaptable to the songs and able to keep a hold on Beug and Costa’s explorations no matter how far out they get. “Water Wealth Hell on Earth Pt. II” is led into with feedback and noise and stretches out over a droning 12 minutes. I’m relatively certain that some of the drones are hyper-effected vocals from Costa, but I’d still call the track instrumental since that’s the purpose said vocals are being put to and the song has a more or less completely open structure, tempered only by periodic tom hits from Joy.

With “Water Wealth Hell on Earth Pt. II,” Megaton Leviathan – who take their name from a Judas Priest lyric – are more or less testing your endurance as a listener. The closing two minutes are inflicted with a high pitch frequency that’s literally painful at high volumes, and piercing to the point where, once I’m snapped out of the trance the prior 10 minutes put me into, I just skip ahead to “Guns and LSD,” the shortest track on Water Wealth Hell on Earth at 5:21 and a return to more direct riffing from Costa and Beug. There’s still no shortage of background noise (maybe some of those extra string elements from Beug as well, buried under the guitar), but it’s nonetheless a clear shift in modus operandi on the part of the band. Costa’s vocals still sound like Dead Meadow played at half-speed, but there are words buried in there somewhere. I’m almost sure of it. For all Megaton Leviathan’s shirking accessibility and/or willing adoption of abrasiveness, the tone of “Guns and LSD” is remarkably warm and enjoyable for its repetitive aspect and uncompromising spaciousness. In headphones, it is all the more engulfing.

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