Featured Post by Critiqual
One of the greatest bands of christian heavy metal during the 80′s was the swedish band Leviticus. Leviticus was actually part of the early heavy metal movement with influences like Deep Purple and their likes. In this article I will tell you more about this great band, a little about their history and where they are today.
The early years
It all started 1981 when three young guys came together, playing hard rock and heavy metal like never had been done in Sweden before. The lead guitarist, and the still going strong member, Bjorn Stigsson founded Leviticus together with the two cousins Hakan and Kjell Andersson.
In the beginning, it was only these three guys driving the band forward. Bjorn played all guitars, Hakan was the lead singer and also playing the bass guitar. Kjell played drums and percussions. The band released two albums in swedish during the first half of the 80′s. The first was called “Stå och titta på” (1982), and their second “Jag skall segra” (1983).
The band became very popular in their home country during the early years, especially in the christian population. Together with Jerusalem they were the biggest christian band in Sweden at the time.
The breaktrough
Leviticus traveled around Sweden during the first years of their existence, and many people loved their music, because it was fearless and with great attitude.
But their international breaktrough came some years later in 1984 when they entered the worldwide music market with their first album in english, “I shall conquer”. Leviticus got an american record label at this time. In 1985 they released the album “The Strongest Power” which got amazing reviews all over the world.
The success continued in 1987 with the album “Setting fire to the earth”. During this time two new members entered the band, mainly because Hakan Andersson left the band, and the two new guys were Terry H as the lead singer, and Ez Gomér on the bass guitar.
In 1989 the band released their first album recorded in the U.S.A. It was called “Knights of Heaven”, now with Peo Petterson as lead singer, and Niklas Franklin on the bass guitar. The album was recorded and produced by John and Dino Elefante.
This was the end of the Leviticus era when the members splitted up and made other careers, for example, Bjorn Stigsson started a new band together with Sonny Larsson, called XT.
A best-of album was released in 1993, called “The best of Leviticus”.
Leviticus of today
The band had a long break for almost 13 years between 1990 and 2003, when they suddenly appeared at the christian swedish festival called Bobfest in 2003. Only two of the original members were still a part of the band, and it was Bjorn Stigsson and Kjell Andersson. At this gig Peo Petterson was the lead singer, Niklas Franklin played the bass guitar.
This gig was a one-time-shot only and we all had to wait another 7 years before Leviticus made their comeback in May 2011 for a 30 years anniversary concert. This concert was special, because this was the first time since the split during the late 80′s that the original line-up played together again. Hakan Andersson was back playing the bass guitar, and backed Peo Petterson up as one of the lead singers.
This time it’s not the end. Leviticus will play again soon, and their next stop is Nordic Fest in Oslo, Norway, October 22, 2001.
Conclusion
The Leviticus band was and still is a great heavy metal band, that were one of the absolute pioneers in christian heavy metal, not only in Sweden but also worldwide.