Tag: Björn Stigsson

Leviticus – Jag Skall Segra! – 1983

Leviticus formed in 1981 when cousins Kjell and Håkan Andersson grouped up with Bjorn Stigsson. I really can’t find much information on their early years but they ended up releasing the Swedish version of this album in 1983. The band headed back into the studio to record the English version a little later. While the Swedish version wasn’t released outside of Sweden the English version was picked up by Refuge records and released in the U.S. on their Shadow Records label. I believe the English of the version of the album used the original music tracks with just new vocals. Leviticus played the Greenbelt festival in England in 1984, and 1985 in support of this album. This album has a bit of a symphonic feel that disappeared in the bands later releases. The engineering on this album was not the best in my opinion as it appeared the producer/engineer were going for the “wall of sound” feel which never works well on a Metal album again in my opinion. At the time of this album I was a huge fan of Jerusalem so I’m thinking I would probably been a huge fan of these guys but this album was never released in Canada. Luckily however both Swedish and English versions of this album have had several re-releases over the years.

Tracklist
1 – Jag Skall Segra – 4:12
2 – Låt Mig Strida – 3:17
3 – Han Är Livet – 4:08
4 – Tvivel – 4:18
5 – Handling Mer Än Ord – 4:06
6 – Allt Är Lugnt – 5:28
7 – Dag För Dag – 5:57
8 – Sträva Framåt – 3:38
9 – Ps. 23 – 4:17

Credits
Artwork [Front Cover Art By] – Inge Vidare
Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Kjell Andersson
Guitar [All Guitars], Synthesizer, Pedalboard [Bass Pedal], Organ, Vocals – Björn Stigsson
Lead Vocals, Bass, Pedalboard [Bass Pedal], Synthesizer – Håkan Andersson
Photography By [Foto] – Lars Lindgren
Producer [Produced By], Mixed By – Leviticus
Recorded By – Bernard Löhr
Songwriter [All Songs By] – Björn Stigsson

Companies, etc.
Copyright © – Stanley & Andrew Music
Recorded At – Vivaldi Studios
Printed By – General Printing AB
Lacquer Cut At – Cutting Room
Pressed By – Audiodisc AB

Leviticus – I Shall Conquer – 1985

This was the first album from Swedish Metal band Leviticus. It was originally released in Sweden in Swedish in 1983. The band redid the album in English for a European and North American Release. Leviticus played the Greenbelt festival in England in 1984, and 1985 in support of this album. This album has a bit of a symphonic feel that disappeared in the bands later releases. The engineering on this album was not the best in my opinion as it appeared the producer/engineer were going for the “wall of sound” feel which never works well on a Metal album again in my opinion. The album was re-released in 2000 on CD with bonus material.

Tracklist
1 – I Shall Conquer
2 – Let Me Fight
3 – He’s My Life
4 – Doubt
5 – Action More Than Words
6 – All Is Calm
7 – Day By Day
8 – Strive Forwards
9 – Psalm 23

Credits
Bass – Håkan Andersson
Drums – Kjell Andersson
Guitar – Björn Stigsson
Lead Vocals – Håkan Andersson
Percussion – Kjell Andersson
Vocals – Björn Stigsson

Leviticus – Stå Och Titta På – 1982

Leviticus formed in 1981 when brothers Kjell and Håkan Andersson came together with Björn Stigsson. In 1982 they released this 4 song EP as their first offering. It was recorded entirely in Swedish and was only released in Sweden. It is comprised of strong keyboard oriented heavy metal. Björn’s guitar is very strong and aside from the production quality the band was album ready at this point and in fact recorded their first album very quickly after this release. Luckily the EP was re-released as part of the 2000 “The Strongest Power” CD release. This is where it started for Leviticus and you can hear that they were a strong band right from their start.

Tracklist
1 – Stå Och Titta På – 5:13
2 – Följ Mig – 4:05
3 – Leva Som Han Lär – 4:24
4 – Min Mästare – 7:31

Credits
Drums, Percussion – Kjell Andersson
Engineer – Thomas Gertz
Guitar, Vocals, Lyrics By, Music By, Guitar Synthesizer – Björn Stigsson
Illustration, Design – Inge Vidare
Photography By – Lars Lindgren
Producer – Leviticus
Synthesizer [Moog Taurus], Vocals, Bass – Håkan Andersson

Companies, etc.
Printed By – SIB-Tryck, Tumba
Recorded At – Studio Bastun
Distributed By – Gummessons

Leviticus – Knights Of Heaven – 1989

This was the last album from Leviticus (there was a 2000’s reboot album) as the band separated after the support tour. This album turned more to a commercial sound perfected by the Elefante brothers. In fact I would say that some of the tracks on this album would fall in the Hard Rock category rather than metal. The album sold well and many thought it was their best work.

Tracklist
1 – Born Again – 3:38
2 – The World Goes ‘Round – 4:16
3 – Isn’t It Love – 4:32
4 – Oh, Lord – 4:51
5 – Feel So Good – 2:20
6 – Strong Love – 3:38
7 – Messiah – 3:55
8 – Over The Hills – 3:55
9 – For Once In My Life – 4:07
10 – Love On Fire – 3:40

Credits
Backing Vocals [Additional Musician] – David Amato
Bass, Backing Vocals – Niklas Frannklin
Design [Cover] – Donna Del Sesto
Design [Cover], Executive-Producer – David Del Sesto
Drums, Percussion – Kjell Andersson
Engineer – Bosse Reimer, Mike Mierau
Engineer [Assistant] – Jeff Simmons
Executive-Producer – Magnus Erikson
Guitar, Backing Vocals – Bjorn Stigsson
Illustration – Robert Fisher
Lead Vocals, Keyboards – Peo Pettersson
Mixed By [Using Eventide H3000B] – Gil Griffith
Producer – Dino, John Elefante

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Royal Music Productions
Copyright (c) – Royal Music Productions
Distributed By – Refuge Music Group
Distributed By – Spectra Distribution
Recorded At – Royal Music Studio
Recorded At – Pakaderm Studios
Overdubbed At – Pakaderm Studios
Mixed At – Pakaderm Studios
Pressed By – Denon Digital Industries

Leviticus – The Strongest Power – 1985

The third album from Leviticus pretty well carried on from their previous albums. At this point Björn and the guys had their sound mastered. This album displayed that experience with well written songs with catchy riffs. I think the production was a little underwhelming but then again some die hard metal fans prefer the raw sound. There were actually 2 different covers for this album but unfortunately both were horrible.

Tracklist
1 – The Winner – 4:04
2 – Deborah And Barak – 3:24
3 – On The Rocks – 2:56
4 – King Of Kings – 5:16
5 – Stay With Us – 3:52
6 – I Got Power – 3:57
7 – Look Around – 4:29
8 – I Love You – 3:14
9 – A New Day – 4:11
10 – Light For The World – 5:06

Credits
Kjell Andersson – Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Björn Stigsson – Guitars, Vocals, Synth, Organ
Håkan Andersson – Vocals (lead), Bass, Moog-Taurus bass pedal