Revelation by Nick Leonard

Check out the lyric videos at:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLySOw1hupbu2jUFFjXFeTXO83mqT2tskk

Check out my video about making this album: https://youtu.be/RYix8VCxvRE

"Multi-instrumentalist Nick Leonard’s musical interpretation of the Book of Revelation, his aptly entitled March of 2021 independent fourth solo album Revelation, is refreshing. It paints a picture of the doom-like found in toiling but relentless riffing, profuse low-end heaviness and lower-register vocals to touch upon the somber." -Angelic Warlord

Revelation is a concept album based on the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse). The lyrics are all directly taken from the scripture and cover the prophetic vision in its entirety in chronological order. The music was written to the words, with the goal of expressing the content through the tone and character of the music.

For this album I wanted a big, layered production, all recorded on real instruments – live drums and no keyboards. The album features all clean singing, mostly in two and three part harmony, and parts for a total of eight guitars: 7-string rhythm guitars, clean electric, two acoustics, lead, an e-bow ambient guitar, and bass.

I first got the idea to do this album in the summer of 2019 and started working on it in the fall. I edited together all the lyrics first, then wrote the rhythm guitars and layered everything from there. It was a huge production to do all by myself, especially learning and recording all the drum parts and the vocals which took many iterations to get to their final performances. Even with all the parts recorded, the mix took a few months and many versions to reach its final form. In total, this album is the product of hundreds of hours of work, long tracking days, and late nights. While not much good came of the 2020 pandemic, it did allow me a lot of extra time to work on refining this and gave me plenty to do to prevent boredom, not to mention the theme of the album felt especially relevant. It's been a real labor of love and really pushed me as a musician, writer, and engineer, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I sweated over making it, if that's possible!

Download of the album includes a pdf of the lyrics in artistic blackletter layout with Gustave Dore's illustrations for Revelation

Tracklist

1.	A Crown of Life	3:58

2.	Open the Scroll	2:51

3.	A Pale Horse	2:31

4.	Seven Trumpets	6:18

5.	The Smoke of the Incense	1:42

6.	Seven Thunders	4:15

7.	The Accuser	4:25

8.	A Mark on the Right Hand	5:10

9.	The Bowls of Wrath	8:49

10.	Babylon the Great	4:49

11.	A Prison for Every Foul Spirit	2:28

12.	Logos	3:58

13.	The Flesh of Kings	2:47

14.	Keep the Prophecy	4:18

15.	The Time is at Hand	1:59

Credits

released March 5, 2021

Music, art, and production by Nick Leonard

License