Creator Breakdown: Jef losing his girlfriend in 2006 caused some immense problems for him, resulting with the heavily dark Massive Conspiracy Against All Life.
Even more was her death lead to the demise of Jef's project Lurker of Chalice.
Development Hell: Massive Conspiracy Against All Life was this for 2007. Jef planned it to release it in that year as a Lurker of Chalice album on infamous Nachtmystium front man Blake Judd's Battle Kommand Records label, but Moribund (the label Jef was signed to at the time) were royally pissed due to their contract with Jef and the fact the album was basically a Leviathan album under the LoC name. It lead to a nasty cease and desist to either Jef or Blake Judd's label (and delaying the split both bands did). It's often believed this is what caused Leviathan to cease in 2008, adding more to Jef's Creator Breakdown.
Doing It for the Art: Jef does Leviathan because he just loves making music. His Tattoo work is also an example of that.
Missing Episode: Lurker of Chalice has four unreleased albums. Jef has stated he's interested in releasing them, but so far hasn't. 2020 did see the release of a demo compilation under the name Tellurian Slaked Furnace however.
Reality Subtext: True Traitor, True Whore. For context, the album was made during the time Jef was dealing with allegations of sexual assault by his ex girlfriend. While he would be found as not guilty over the case, he would be charged with for two years of probation for aggravated battery.
Reclusive Artist: Jef is a private individual, and most of the time people only encounter him if they go to get tattoos. Joked around in the "One Man Metal" documentary that they couldn't find him at first. Jef lampshaded this in the doc as well saying he's "not into sharing". He did however set up an Instagram that features updates on his tattoo work, music updates, and daily posts about his life (mainly always involving his daughter).
Similarly Named Works: A LOT of bands are called Leviathan. Most just associate the project with Jef or just saying they're from America.
What Could Have Been: Massive Conspiracy Against All Life was intended to be a Lurker of Chalice album, but was instead changed to a Leviathan record. The record also had different song names that were revealed during a pre-release leak of it.
Word of God: Jef confirmed a few comment theories in regards to Lurker of Chalice, in particular confirming that Lurker wasn't inspired by the death of his girlfriend Jesse, but rather she was The Muse and had written the LoC stuff years before meeting her (all while adding "RIP" after discussing her). Jef also confirmed the theory a fan had about the project name (that a chalice is symbolic to the vagina/feminine energy) and that the self titled was a man's relationship with a woman.
Jef was a pretty well known skateboarder in the Oakland area back during the 1980's, with a photo of him even appearing on the cover of Skate or Die 2 for the NES.
