Leverage – Gravity Review

By Steel Druhm

Finland’s Leverage are one of those bands that always seemed to operate at the outer fringes of heavy metal. Their 2006 Tides debut showcased a strong 80s rock base with just enough of an over-the-top edge to make it plausible to call them a metal act. Most of the songs reminded me more of Survivor and Night Ranger than any specific metal act, but the writing was catchy enough that it didn’t matter. Follow-ups Blind Fire and Circus Colossus kept the template in place with only modest tweaks, and when very distinctive frontman Pekka Heino decamped, they replaced him well with Kimmo Blom. Blom passed away in 2022, and now Leverage return with a new frontman as they try to soldier on. For 6th album, Gravity, they also added a full-time violinist to expand their sound beyond their familiar rock/metal blueprint. Since I’ve enjoyed all the Leverage albums to some degree, I was curious if they could bounce back from tragedy and keep on delivering the earwormy goods.

I’m happy to report that Gravity is very much a typical Leverage outing in most regards. New singer Paolo Ribaldini (ex-Skiltron) sounds a lot like both Pekka and Kimmo, so there’s no real acclimation period for the longtime Leverage fan. Opening cut “Shooting Star” is everything you’d want and expect from them, with big, bombastic radio rock energy pinging off a tougher metal aesthetic and a vague country-western drawl, and the writing is designed to stick immediately. The chorus is catchy enough to ensure you wear it home like gum in your back hair. Paolo wins you over immediately with bold, forceful vocals that bring enough power to the 80s retro party. From there, Gravity blasts through a series of tracks that balance cheese with iron, radio rock with metal, and the emphasis is always on hooks. “Tales of the Night” belongs on the soundtracks for Rocky III AND IV, and you will want to create your own training montage to this thing. “Moon of Madness” is so Survivor it almost leaves no survivors, but the hooks are there, and the fiddle bits are odd, but interesting.

The band takes some chances and stretch their writing at times, as on “All Seeing Eye” which sounds like a Dio-era Rainbow song that’s been lost in a dusty vault until now. It has that 70s coolness factor and the same grandeur heard on cuts like “Stargazer” and “The Gates of Babylon,” and Paolo really comes into his own with a gritty, badass performance full of gravitas. “King Ghidorah” sounds like a mash-up of Nightbreaker era Riot and the more hard-charging Deep Purple classics, and that means a rabble-rousing good time. Hell, even the nearly 10-minute title track works for the most part, stealing some of Avantasia’s trade secrets about writing ginormous power ballads crammed full of bombast and cheddar. It’s ultimately about 3 minutes too long, but it’s an entertaining tune at its core. The big set-piece tracks suffer some unsightly bloat, but the shorter, more immediate tracks power the album along at a brisk, breezy pace and keep you bopping along.

With the usual Leverage vets all in place and doing their thing, Paolo is given a solid foundation to work with and build from, and he impresses with his macho vocal efforts. He’s enough like past Leverage singers, but he has a few extra gears to reach for when needed. He does the whole Jorn/Coverdale hard rock growl well and brings enough of his own style to the table to sell the material like cupcakes outside a CBD superstore. Tuomas Heikkinen continues to marry hard rock and 80s rock idioms with harder-edged riffwork and makes it all work together. He can be flashy, but he’s the kind of guitarist that puts song before wank. New violinist Lotta Pitkänen is only noticeable at a few key moments, and the rest of the time she’s deep in the background behind the keyboards. I’m not sure she’s needed, but she does provide a nice gloss when audible.

I’ve never been disappointed by a Leverage album, though I have my favorites. Gravity is good enough to drop right in the middle of their discography with a few playlist-worthy cuts that demand poaching. If you like bands in the Brother Firetribe / The Night Flight Orchestra vein, Gravity should be right in your wheelhouse. It’s not quite a must-hear, but it packs enough entertainment value to be worth a flyer. I’m glad they’re still with us. R.I.P. Kimmo.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: NA | Format Reviewed: Fucking STREAM
Label: Frontiers Music
Website: facebook.com/leverageofficial
Releases Worldwide: June 20th, 2025

#30 #BrotherFiretribe #FinnishMetal #FrontiersMusic #Gravity #HardRock #HeavyMetal #Journey #Leverage #Rainbow #Review #Reviews #Survivor

Rustorm – Gravity Review

By GardensTale

I feel like I’ve seen an uptick in bands formed from people who played music several decades ago and only recently returned to it. One explanation could be empty nest syndrome: dropping out of music to raise a kid, pick up an old hobby once they’ve moved out. Midlife crises are a popular scapegoat as well, but sometimes it’s just the natural waxing and waning of interests as life takes us hither and tither. Rustorm is two Brits, Jules McBride (bass) and Rob Lewis (everything else),1 who were last seen around the turn of the century with short-lived alternative metal band Pulkas. A couple years ago they pulled the spiderwebs off their old gear, bought a couple of new pedals, and got to writing. Gravity is their second outing, but is Rustorm still rusty or does it take us by storm?

Before you get the wrong idea, these guys haven’t picked up where Pulkas left off playing alt metal. Instead, Rustorm peddles an atmospheric brand of doom-laden sludge, employing hypnotic rhythms, layered synths, and purposeful repetition. The riffs are simplistic, intending not to dazzle or hook but to impart overwhelming weight with their crushing gravel-filled textures. McBride does the other half of that job, with a thick, thrumming bass that’s given plenty of room to add more heft. With a couple of instrumental tracks (“Low-down” and “Suspension of Gravity”) and a few higher energy bangers in the back half (“Drown it out” and “Seven Sacrifice”), the 38 minute package is a well-rounded set of songs that may not shock the world, but absolutely appeals.

Gravity is nonetheless still quite rough around the edges. Lewis’ vocal style consists of a bark from the throat with limited range. It’s the most technically challenged item on the bill, often coming across as harsh speaking rather than singing. But Rustorm does use the vocals in a more percussive rather than melodic manner, which mitigates the damage a tad. Rustorm suffers from a few other issues besides the vocals, but they are predictable and not very serious. A focus on texture and atmosphere at the expense of more involved riffs or hooks often means songs can get a little repetitive as they go on, and the compositions can feel somewhat risk-averse.

But Rustorm hits more than it misses. “Snowcrash” is the first and highest peak, its synths setting a sinister tone akin to old school horror movies that gels well with the bleak lyrical content. The back half sketches in a darker shade overall and is better for it. “Drown it Out” takes on shades of New York hardcore and is poised to cause some teeth to be left on the floor of the mosh pit, and “Seven Sacrifice” has a nasty and gnarly chorus that contrasts nicely with the atmospheric verses. Considering Gravity was self-produced, the production is quite solid as well. Though the vocals tend to be high in the mix and the synths sound a bit too stock, the guitars and bass have a very nice, crunchy texture that supports the band’s heavy sound. The mastering is slightly dense, but only to the point of feeling oppressive, not sounding like shit.

Rustorm is a passion project, that much is clear, and Gravity a labor of love. The gents won’t be shocking the world or headlining festivals anytime soon; they don’t have the polish yet, nor the level of songwriting. The music can be overly simplistic in structure, the vocals too one-note. But there is a lot of charm to Gravity, a commitment to a vision that shines past the little flaws. It comes through in the ominous atmosphere, the crushing low-tuned riffs, and the deliberate pacing. It makes me wanna turn the volume up, put on my nasty face, bob my head on the beat, and grunt about snowcrashes and sacrifices. What’s a better mark of success than that?

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: PCM
Label: Self-released
Websites: rustorm.bandcamp.com | rustorm.net | facebook.com/RustormMusic
Releases Worldwide: March 7th, 2025

#2025 #30 #AtmosphericMetal #BritishMetal #DoomMetal #Gravity #Mar25 #Pulkas #Review #Reviews #Rustorm #SelfReleased #Sludge