Album Review: Mother Of All - Global Parasitic Leviathan (2024)

Written: 3rd April 2024

Formed in 2013, Mother Of All is the creation of Martin Haumann, an in demand Danish musician, who has worked with artists such as Myrkur, Afsky, Timechild and Mercenary. Drawing on various influences within metal, Mother Of All are set to unleash their second full length album, Global Parasitic Leviathan, on 12th April.

Global Parasitic Leviathan is a no-holds barred concept album on which Mother Of All use corporate and financial tyranny in the Western world as a background for a more sinister narrative. In a recent interview, Haumann (vocalist, lyricist and drummer) told Hotel Hobbies, “The fundamental idea is trying to explain everything that is going on politically, economically and in the cultural arena with one religious concept. A simple germ which determines the structures of institutions and society and how these are going to go in the future. Global Parasitic Leviathan is the idea that self-interest is a virtue and it's the highest virtue of all. I want to show how this could result in the destruction of democracy, humanity, human progress and prosperity if other values like democracy or solidarity were dirty words and not part of the prime virtues of a society.”

First track Cosmic Darkness, emerges from the shadows and grows as slow heavy metal like riffs begin to take hold. Martin Haumann’s drums then reach out like potent tendrils to ensnare the listener and the harrowing, menacing narrative begins. New dawn of man / For every sentient being / Industrial crusades, from which there is no fleeing / Submit to the new divine, protecting Dark Leviathan / No longer are we assailed from the womb ‘till you exhale. Vocally, Haumann sits in an interesting space between melodeath and outright death metal influences but whichever he leans towards during the opening track, he is never less than compelling as he snarls and barks the disturbing, macabre lyrics. Almost all of the guitars on the album are handled by Henrik Rangstrup and both his volatile, bellicose solos and infectious, insistent riffs throughout the opening track quickly establish his technical credentials. Cosmic Darkness brutally sets the scene for the album both musically and lyrically. Self interest - the engine of progress / So take pride in your inner cosmic darkness / Self interest - the engine of progress / Flowing from the fountainhead of darkness.

Corporate Warfare Leviathan begins with a short, eerily beautiful introduction from Henrik Rangstrup before the rest of the band join with a provocative ferocity. Melodeath and thrash intertwine throughout the track, which has hints of early Metallica in several places and certainly within the solo towards the end of the song. Less blustering moments of Corporate Warfare Leviathan allow the more inflammatory sections of track to appear even more tumultuous. This delicate balance – which happens across the album – allows the band to deliver a sound that is both polished and raw, a dichotomy that perfectly mirrors the albums thematic exploration of the world’s duplicitous nature. Narratively, the track deals with the growing, parasitic nature of the leviathan. Mars the God of War / Has taken corporate form / We march forever more / Towards the killing floor / Mars the God of War / Has taken corporate form / Creates its own demand - The Corporate Leviathan.

The Stars Already Faded and Hypocrisy – Weaponised turn up the visceral atmosphere and the auditory onslaught as the rhythm section (Haumann and bassist Michael Møller) drive the album forwards. However, Møller’s (replacing Steve Di Giorgio of Death who played on the previous album) bass lines are not merely foundational, adding, when appropriate, a melodic backbone, pulsating undercurrents or an unstoppable, blunt force. Hypocrisy-Weaponised is mainly a frenzy of crunching riffs, percussive blast beats and guttural expulsions from Haumann, while a central, slower section pounds and stomps with sledgehammer chords as Mother Of All explore different elements of their sound. The lyrics hit with a blend of twisted poetic imagery and concussive trauma as the charge of hypocrisy becomes an effective guard against change and thought. The light, it hurts my eyes / Disrupts my selfish vision / I dig up walls to guard my tired well-groomed mind / Weaponized Hypocrisy - Fortify fortify / Weaponized Hypocrisy / Stay in line, Stay in line.

Debt Crush, a track inspired partly by what happened in Greece after the financial crises, travels through a number of different passages. It begins with a heavy riff that rises like a sombre monolith before launching into a furious (lyrical and musical) exploration of the themes. Secretive mandarin banking control / Total death of Demos’ soul / Enslaving the populus – indefinitely / Twelve stars on the cape of the just / Covers, lies and dust / The weak suffer what they must. Aside from an orphic, nefarious central section haunted by lumbering, mysterious bass, it is a thunderous, unapologetic roar against the backdrop of global corruption as the parasite takes hold. As the track reaches its climax in the final minute and a half, one of the best guitar solos on the album reaches frenetic speed as Haumann’s relentless drumming detonates with controlled chaos. The percussion, with blast beats and double bass patterns, threatens to destroy all around it but there is a precision to the playing that keeps the maelstrom focused and purposeful.

Merchants Of Self-Loathing is slightly slower paced at first but no less colossal as gargantuan riffs laced with puissant, anguished bile build layer upon layer. Penultimate track Monuments is a scathing critique of healthcare systems and the pharmaceutical industry, particularly that of the United States of America suggesting that they prioritise profit over patient care. Preview peer-reviews through private eyes’ backdoor / Create disease, to produce the cure / Hypocritical oath secures / Trusting patients fined / Kept sick for the corporate bottom line / Doctors sell disease / Science fills the need / Of hungry coffins with holes to feed / Doctors sell disease / Science fills the need / Demoted to filling coffers for power and greed. In his wrath - as the rest of the band play with unbridled, polemic ire - Haumann delivers his most vicious vocals of the entire album, his voice crackling and rumbling with volcanic rage.

By the time Mother Of All reaches the final track Pillars, the listener has been lyrically and musically pummelled for thirty-five minutes but the band are not done with us quite yet. Searing quick-fire riffs see the parasite reach the point of almost total control as it feeds off our base emotions: self-interest has reached pandemic proportions. Global parasitic leviathan with tentacles in every heart / Our monument to the inner cosmic darkness / Pillars of opaque power / Rising beyond the reach of the earthbound / Pillars of opaque power / Stretching beyond our grasp. As the album reaches its conclusion, the most melodic section of the album seems to suggest there may actually be optimism and some sort of redemption might be possible, but such is the darkness that has prevailed thus far, Mother Of All have all but extinguished any hope that a solution to the dominating power enveloping the Earth can be found. Martin Haumann elaborates, “Listeners will sense that something is wrong on the album and it is kind of hopeless. Then why should they do something? Well, I'm not going to answer that. I hope the listener will find a part of themselves that can answer that question. That is what I'm asking people to do. Fixation on hope is kind of impotent in a way. The only thing we can do is we can act.”

In the best possible way, Global Parasitic Leviathan is not an easy listen. Martin Haumann has created a truly chilling narrative that in many ways is just a little too close to reality for comfort. Each time the listener believes there may be some sort of musical or lyrical reprieve, the band introduce another barrage of riffs or acerbic words that weave a tapestry of sound and narration that radiates further despair through the speakers. From melodeath to thrash to progressive metal, Mother Of All straddles a range of sub-genres but a particular enjoyment of thrash melded with the harsher, caustic end of melodic death metal will see listeners gain the most from the album. Global Parasitic Leviathan manages to be both a wake-up call and a lamentation for a world mired in corruption. It is a reminder that music can be a powerful vehicle for change or reflection, and Mother Of All has delivered something as thought-provoking as it is musically savage. It is an album to be heard but also digested, as each listen reveals new layers to its intricate composition and profound lyricism.

Global Parasitic Leviathan is released on 12th April 2024

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Album Credits:

Music and Lyrics by Martin Haumann

Arranged by Mother Of All