Eternal Descent: Tale Spin

Originally published in Guitar World, April 2010

Guitarist Llexi Leon tells his tales through his art and his music.

Many guitar players hope to tell stories through their playing. That’s not a problem for British guitarist Llexi Leon, whose upcoming gothic comic book series Eternal Descent will be accompanied by a CD and digital “virtual comics” that show off the 23-year-old’s impressive shred skills.

“I love writing music that creates an atmosphere,” Leon says. “Yet at the same time, I’m a big fan of epic films and comics that deal with the whole good-versus-evil theme. So I thought, Why not combine the two? And that’s how I came up with Eternal Descent.”

Leon’s vision—that of a fallen hero, a twisted demon, one gorgeous succubus and an army of chart-topping guitar heroes—attracted the attention of the publishing/distribution giant IDW (home of 30 Days of Night, Star Trek, Transformers and G.I. Joe, among others), which rolls out the first installment of Eternal Descent in March. Working with Leon on the musical score is another big-timer, producer/engineer Eddie Kramer (whose credits include none other than Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin). “I got turned on to Llexi through another band I was working with,” Kramer says, “and immediately I said, ‘This guy’s got it all.’ He’s a fantastic musician, yet he’s on the cutting edge of multimedia, which I find very exciting.”

Leon and Kramer have created “temp” music for Eternal Descent video promos (using guest guitarists such as Wayne Static from Static-X, Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom and Ozzy Osbourne’s new axman, Gus G., all of whom will appear as themselves in the comics), and while they’re pleased with the basic tracks, they still have final strings and orchestrations to lay down.

“We’re talking about finishing at Abbey Road Studios,” Leon says. “The only problem is, while we do have sponsors, it’s still a self-funded enterprise—and Abbey Road doesn’t come cheap.”