‘Leviathan’ resembles an aural time machine, a gloomy and intense record that takes us back to the late 80s and early ‘90s, following the journey of a band that’s been forgotten for over two decades, but that has now found its way back to a global audience. We are referring to Sri Lanka: the group was active with a certain success in the late 80s, causing a stir in the New York and Philadelphia underground scenes. Their music was malleable and dark, a hybrid blend of gothic, post-punk and new wave influences, all treated to heightened industrial goo.
A tragic event marked the beginning of the end for Sri Lanka, as they had to reckon with the death of their original frontman, Brett Turner, who died at the young age of twenty in 1989. Jose Maldonado was called in as a replacement, advancing an artistic journey that eventually stopped in 1993. That would not be forever: Sri Lanka returned in 2020 with a new single, ‘Leviathan’, followed by some re-releases and archival records.
Recently, ‘Leviathan’ has been unveiled as a long album, featuring new material alongside reworkings of old songs. In it, we can fully grasp what Sri Lanka stood for, a stream of brooding alternative goodness that we’d argue would work well in the present day. There’s no doubt that the project had (and still has, for that matter) a lot of potential.
Recommended! Discover ‘Leviathan’ now: