Leviticus-I Shall Conquer

I think I've posted on this before, We've got some new members since. Leviticus "I Shall Conquer" album isn't all that well regarded I don't think; but I feel it's under-rated. True, it's a little awkward at times, but that's just the rough hewn Swedish sound of that period. I think 220 Volt and Heavy Load of the same period are equally choppy. "Knights of Heaven" is much more polished, but 220 Volt and others followed a similar trajectory, their "Eye to Eye" is a lot like "Knights". I find myself listening to "I Shall Conquer" quite a bit.

Not only is KOH more polished, it's more of a commercial sound, I liked the first two the best.

Ever seen the video clip for "I Shall Conquer"? 80's to the bone!

It's not a terrible album, but not a great one either....... The Strongest Power is a much better album

ultmetal wrote:

Ever seen the video clip for "I Shall Conquer"? 80's to the bone!

Yeah. I just watched it on YouTube. "Let Me Fight".

Leviticus along with Daniel Band, Philadelphia and Messiah Prophet were
the VERY first metal bands I heard as a wee-lad. I use to record there
songs off the radio on the weekly 4-runner show. Cheese.....its good
for you.

T-Roy wrote:

Leviticus along with Daniel Band, Philadelphia and Messiah Prophet were
the VERY first metal bands I heard as a wee-lad. I use to record there
songs off the radio on the weekly 4-runner show. Cheese.....its good
for you.

The first Christian metal band I had heard was Stryper I think. After that it was Saint, Messiah Prophet, Leviticus. I became a Christian in the late 80's, but I was already a Stryper fan by then. I went to a Christian bookstore looking for some metal and discovered those three bands. Saint and Messiah Prophet rocked my socks. I wasn't as impressed with Leviticus. Personally, I liked their third and fourth albums best.

Secular music was not allowed at all in my house, and I had just gotten
my first ever radio/tape deck. I think I was 11 maybe 12. Anyway, I was
not allowed to listen to the radio, only tapes. But I quickly learned
from friends how to put scotch-tape over the cut outs of "Sunday
sermon" tapes my parents had and record off the radio! So anyway, I got
my radio taken away a couple times for getting caught with stuff, I
didn't even know what it was or what it was called (M-crue, acdc...),
radio stuff. I just know it was COOOOOL!

Anyhow, one night, my dad comes home from work like every night. He
was, is a huge music guy, plays allot of instruments, was worship
leader or in the worship team along with most of my siblings at every
church we ever went too. He grew up idolizing the Beetles and had a
beetles rip-off band that he actually did gigs with in high school. So
he understood.

But after we were all done eating dinner that night, everybody had left
the table but dad and me. Dad always left the table first, not the
chatting type over a meal. And I was always the last one finished (the
slow eater) of 5 kids. So, its me and dad, staring at each other! I was
thinking, uh oh, what did I do now! He reaches down and pulls something
out from his chair and says something to this effect, "I know you don't
like our music (Amy grant, lean patillo, MW-smith, Bryan Duncan etc...)
and I don't think its fair that you have to listen to it if you don't
want too, so I've decided you can listen to whatever you want.....as
long as its Christian." And he pushed over SOLDIERS UNDER COMMAND!!!
Mom freaked! But pop smoothed it over!

And the rest was history. I jumped into the Christian metal with both
feet man! And the more I dove in, the more my tastes surprisingly went
to the faster, harder and eventually speed/thrash/deathy white metal.
It’s weird because, I've had so much turmoil, anxiety, anger, and
failure since high school (really I stopped listening to white metal a
year after tech school) 15 years ago. And since I’ve rediscovered my
first love of music the last month. I feel so much peace and quietness,
happiness. It’s strange. My wife doesn't understand what’s going on.
She keeps asking me what’s going on? She saw your CD last night and
(LMAO) raised eyebrows and voiced concerns. And I just told her this is
what I love and since I’ve gone back to it, I just feel,
better......then I proceeded to tell her you had very good death growl.
Should have just stopped before that...oh well!!!

I know allot of good friends, not unlike you, that can listen to both
sides and only hear the metal music. And that’s awesome. But for some
reason, the way God wired me, it pulls and sways (like a wave) my
emotions and flesh. And its like this last month, I've eliminated allot
of that pull. Music is powerful to me, always has been, maybe because
of the house I grew up in.

Thanks for sharing that. Ask your wife to read the lyrics to Temple of the Spirit or The Purging and see what she thinks. I'm curious to know what she would say.

Cool Story T-roy.I can empathize with you because I grew up in a similar situation.Except my Mom didnt want me listening to any rock at all.It took me forever to convince her that Stryper wasnt of the Devil.Im not so sure she's still convinced.HaHa

thrasher73 wrote:

Cool Story T-roy.I can empathize with you because I
grew up in a similar situation.Except my Mom didnt want me listening to
any rock at all.It took me forever to convince her that Stryper wasnt
of the Devil.Im not so sure she's still convinced.HaHa

LOL,
then right about the time we convinced our parents Stryper was not of
the devil......they come out with "To Hell With The Devil"!

HEAVY LOAD, increible that somebody still remember that band. I have their vinyls. I like AXE WITCH also very much, and early MERCY, those bands all had that tipical swedish sound that you talk about SAHB HEALER.

Overdrive is a great one. Glory Bells was OK. Silver Mountain another good one.
I just found Best of Leviticus cd at Lance King's (from Balance of Power) record store in Minnesota. I don't have The Strongest Power, but the comp should contain some of the songs off it.

Man it's so refreshing reading all of these stories! I remember when God had some killer bands out there... now it seems like the musicianship is not up to par with seccular metal. Not all, but most. I used to love Sacramnet and Barren Cross. I am just so glad that I came back to where I was supposed to be as God's child. He saved me and I nearly killed me. That's why, after wrestling with my convictions, I have submitted to God completely and intention for me to use the talent he gave me for His glory and honour! So, when it's God's time, we... DAEMONICIDE shall release our first demo. So guys, please pray for us! It seems like Satan has thrown everything at us he can to stop this ministry... I guess he doesn't want us infiltrating the part of the music world )METAL) that he has dominated for so long. But my burden lies with all those people and kids I saw and met while I was travelling, playing death metal for so many years. We as Christian metal musicians may well be the only Bible these guys ever see!

God Bless!

SAHB Healer wrote:

I think I've posted on this before, We've got some new members since. Leviticus "I Shall Conquer" album isn't all that well regarded I don't think; but I feel it's under-rated. True, it's a little awkward at times, but that's just the rough hewn Swedish sound of that period. I think 220 Volt and Heavy Load of the same period are equally choppy. "Knights of Heaven" is much more polished, but 220 Volt and others followed a similar trajectory, their "Eye to Eye" is a lot like "Knights". I find myself listening to "I Shall Conquer" quite a bit.

I'm a huge 'Leviticus' fan. I used to work in a Christian Bookstore when all this stuff started. I loved the first two discs, slightly disappointed with 'Setting Fire...' I didn't think it was as heavy as the other discs. But 'Elijah on Carmel' is a great song along with 'Saved' and 'Flames of Fire'.
'Knights...' had some good stuff, but way more commercial.

I loved Peo's voice on 'Knights' and Bjorns solo disc.

The best disc all around is the 'Live at Bobfest' with Peo. The band is tight, Peo rips and they just ROCK !!!.... They captured a fantastic sound with that disc. They do a great job on 'All is Calm'... sorta reminds me of a great scorpions ballad... not sure why...

Rez, Jerusalem, Daniel Band, Barnabas were the first four hard rock/metal christian bands..... with domestic distribution.....

I'm so glad I did not grow up in a christian sterile lab/home, talk about putting burdens on children's backs! My parents being strict Catholic at that time though, had other tiresome burdens w/that!

T. Walker wrote:

Man it's so refreshing reading all of these stories! I remember when God had some killer bands out there... now it seems like the musicianship is not up to par with seccular metal. Not all, but most.

You know, I used to think so too. But I tell you what. During the 80's metal was at its pinnacle. It was actually quite popular, thus God found ways to speak to the metal movement. But if you look at the market today, the think to like is metalcore (at least in the states), so what is God doing? He is raising a lot of bands in that genre, to speak to the lost. Just look at As I Lay Dying, Becoming The Archetype etc. In Europe we have a different situation. Here metal is still sort of popular, and growing. Thus we get bands like Narnia, Harmony and Divinefire. So be sure that God is still in command.

As for your band, GO FOR IT!

kmorg wrote:

T. Walker wrote:

Man it's so refreshing reading all of these stories! I remember when God had some killer bands out there... now it seems like the musicianship is not up to par with seccular metal. Not all, but most.

You know, I used to think so too. But I tell you what. During the 80's metal was at its pinnacle. It was actually quite popular, thus God found ways to speak to the metal movement. But if you look at the market today, the think to like is metalcore (at least in the states), so what is God doing? He is raising a lot of bands in that genre, to speak to the lost. Just look at As I Lay Dying, Becoming The Archetype etc. In Europe we have a different situation. Here metal is still sort of popular, and growing. Thus we get bands like Narnia, Harmony and Divinefire. So be sure that God is still in command.

As for your band, GO FOR IT!

Sorry, but are you joking or you realy think that god is helping those bands? You think god will help first those bands before all those children in Africa for exemple??? That would be a very bad god, no????

krokus wrote:

kmorg wrote:

T. Walker wrote:

Man it's so refreshing reading all of these stories! I remember when God had some killer bands out there... now it seems like the musicianship is not up to par with seccular metal. Not all, but most.

You know, I used to think so too. But I tell you what. During the 80's metal was at its pinnacle. It was actually quite popular, thus God found ways to speak to the metal movement. But if you look at the market today, the think to like is metalcore (at least in the states), so what is God doing? He is raising a lot of bands in that genre, to speak to the lost. Just look at As I Lay Dying, Becoming The Archetype etc. In Europe we have a different situation. Here metal is still sort of popular, and growing. Thus we get bands like Narnia, Harmony and Divinefire. So be sure that God is still in command.

As for your band, GO FOR IT!

Sorry, but are you joking or you realy think that god is helping those bands? You think god will help first those bands before all those children in Africa for exemple??? That would be a very bad god, no????

Isn't God helping the chrildren in Africa by sending missionaries, medical teams, the red cross etc? But I don't think this is about prioritizing. God is omnipresent.

candlemass wrote:

I'm so glad I did not grow up in a christian
sterile lab/home, talk about putting burdens on children's backs! My
parents being strict Catholic at that time though, had other tiresome
burdens w/that!

I just want to make sure that I'm not being
mis-understood. My story and my childhood, was one of the most pivital,
positive and joyful times of my life. There were no burdens or heavy
yokes. :yahoo:What my Dad did was give me freedom that I needed. To be who I wanted to be.

Glad to hear that, I just think the whole "christian only" rule for any form of art or media is rediculous!

kmorg wrote:

T. Walker wrote:

Man it's so refreshing reading all of these stories! I remember when God had some killer bands out there... now it seems like the musicianship is not up to par with seccular metal. Not all, but most.

You know, I used to think so too. But I tell you what. During the 80's metal was at its pinnacle. It was actually quite popular, thus God found ways to speak to the metal movement. But if you look at the market today, the think to like is metalcore (at least in the states), so what is God doing? He is raising a lot of bands in that genre, to speak to the lost. Just look at As I Lay Dying, Becoming The Archetype etc. In Europe we have a different situation. Here metal is still sort of popular, and growing. Thus we get bands like Narnia, Harmony and Divinefire. So be sure that God is still in command.

As for your band, GO FOR IT!

I couldn't agree more. My teenage sons like 'old school' stuff both christian and non.... Yet they also love a lot of the 'new school' if you will
bands like those you mentioned plus Pillar, Day of Fire, Flyleaf, Decypher Down, The Showdown......

I'm very grateful that my boys dig some of the stuff I like, but there is a lot of good positive Christian material they dig as well.... it's the old 'train up a child in the way he should go.....'

I wish more of that 'old school' metal you mentioned was a bit more readily available in the states.....

I'm a good friend with the drummer in Leviticus, Kjell.
Did you know he is a big death metal fan :-)
He still has the same haircut as in the Let me fight video.

Belexes wrote:

I'm a good friend with the drummer in Leviticus, Kjell.
Did you know he is a big death metal fan :-)
He still has the same haircut as in the Let me fight video.

Cool! Whatever happened to the band after the reunion? They shoul record a new album!

God is omnipresent and omnipotent... bands that are truly chosen by God will win lost souls. Also the children starving in Africa and America and Europe etc... will be watched over by God too. But those who do not and will not believe in God or His son Jesus will not receive any help until they acknowledge Him as Lord.
i.e. You don't believe - you don't receive!

BTW- I jst can't really get into any type of "core" band, no matter how hard I try or what they're message is. But if they are working with God, I will praise and support their humble efforts!