On December 12th internationally, Personal Records will release Pedestal for Leviathan’s debut album, Enter: Vampyric Manifestation, on CD format; Gurgling Gore will be handling the tape release. And now, the band stream the album in its entirety in advance of its physical release date: Enter: Vampyric Manifestation | Pedestal for Leviathan
Under a pale Colorado moon, Pedestal for Leviathan was spellcrafted by Kendrick Lemke in 2024 to create music that combines brutal death metal riffing with an appreciation for symphonic extreme blackened bands such as Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir. The band’s first EP, Festering Apparition, was independently released in October 2024 and garnered considerable momentum by word of mouth.
With a live lineup that manifested at the beginning of 2025, Pedestal for Leviathan are now prepared to unleash their debut full-length. Tellingly titled Enter: Vampyric Manifestation, the album is an encapsulation and extension of the band’s core strengths. Where those who heard their debut EP claimed it was a formula that shouldn’t work but actually did, that pontification is amplified a hundredfold on Enter: Vampyric Manifestation. The album begins with bombastic, eerie fanfare and proceeds to ply on the multi-layered brutality from there, as deceptively catchy riffing and vocals that plumb the depths are supported by atmospheric orchestral elements that are equally cinematic and levitational – a unique paradox of utterly crushing heaviness and light-as-air etherealness that then further amplifies the kaleidoscopic, 3D nature of Pedestal for Leviathan’s sound. For a record that was entirely written, recorded, and mixed by Lemke (guitar reamping and mastering was handled by Mathew Meyer, who’s a part of that live lineup), Enter: Vampyric Manifestation sounds absolutely HUGE: sound, vision, and execution all form a symbiosis of grim grandeur and fathomless darkness. It’s a record that indeed has crossover appeal, for fans of both death metal and black metal both underground and above, as well as the more-adventurous sorts into symphonic metal. And while Lemke’s stated influences of Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir certainly apply, Pedestal for Leviathan’s sound here can be spiritually likened to Septicflesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Belphegor, Arkhon Infaustus, and even Australia’s cult Darklord.
Completed by spellbinding cover artwork courtesy of Alexander Kemp and with the preceding EP as bonus tracks, Pedestal for Leviathan are bound for a breakout with Enter: Vampyric Manifestation.
