Description
Knights of Heaven is the fourth studio album by the Swedish metal band Leviticus, released on the Swedish gospel label Royal Music in 1989. The album was recorded in the US with John and Dino Elefante producing.
On this album, Peo Pettersson replaced Terry H. on lead vocals and Niklas Franklin replaced Ez Gomér on the bass. The Swedish newspaper Göteborgs-Posten (the largest newspaper in Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden) wrote “Leviticus takes the top position in Swedish hardrock, together with Europe.”
Later Björn Stigsson founded XT with Sonny Larsson.
Attention all Petra and Def Leppard fans. This record is for you. Leviticus, who has set a standard of excellence with its last two releases, ‘Setting Fire to the Earth‘ and ‘Together with Friends‘ has made a premeditated decision to move away from supercharged heavy metal and towards a commercial rock sound.
While this move will undoubtedly disappoint several hardcore metalheads, it is good news to the majority of rockers. These guys don’t know how to write a bad song.
«Isn’t it Love», «Messiah» and «The World Goes Round» convey the love of God in a heavy pop rock format. The latter two sounds very similar to Petra, due to the heavy production hand of John and Dino Elefante on the background vocals. This is one of the few drawbacks to this release: These songs sound too much like Petra. The background vocals in the choruses almost sound like they were sampled from Petra’s last album.
The two ballads, «Oh Lord» and «For Once in My Life», are both serious contenders for adult contemporary radio airplay, featuring Peo’s tender vocals and well crafted keyboard lines, with just a touch of melodic guitar playing by Bjorn Stigsson.
My favorite cut is «Feel So Good», a fast-paced, sassy number with expressive lyrics: “Ooooh weee! I’m so excited/ Ooowee! I feel so good!” Musically, it sounds like a race between the rhythm section members: Drummer Kjell Anderson; bassist Niklas Franklin; and Bjorn on guitars. [Doug Van Pelt, CCM, April 1990]
Girder Music Promo, 2021
In 1989, Leviticus released their fourth album Knights of Heaven (1989), which was the band’s fourth release (unless you count their Swedish debut Jag Skall Segra) and was produced by John and Dino Elefante and exhibits a AOR rock sound remarkably like Petra, The Brave, Guardian and other Pakaderm bands. It received great reviews in a lot of magazines worldwide. The Swedish newspaper, Göteborgs-Posten wrote “Leviticus takes the top position in Swedish hardrock, together with Europe.”
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/knights-of-heaven/1102516492)
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Born Again” – 3:38
A2. “The World Goes ‘Round” – 4:16
A3. “Isn’t It Love” – 4:32
A4. “Oh, Lord” – 4:51
A5. “Feel So Good” – 2:20
Side Two
B1. “Strong Love” – 3:38
B2. “Messiah” – 3:55
B3. “Over The Hills” – 3:55
B4. “For Once In My Life” – 4:07
B5. “Love On Fire” – 3:40
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette, 12-inch vinyl LP, and CD by Royal Music. The album tracks “Isn’t It Love”, b/w “Born Again”, was released as a 7-inch single by Royal Music in 1989. Remastered by Rob Colwell of Bombworks Sound and re-issued on both CD (limited to 500 copies) and 12-inch vinyl LP (pressed on Random Heavy Weight vinyl in 200 copies remastered for vinyl) in 2021 by Girder Music (through Limited Run Vinyl/Limited Run Music).
Knights of Heaven Album Sampler
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.