COAL

When I was curious about the rest of Leprous's music after giving a listen to BILATERAL, I decided to check out their other albums. TALL POPPY SYNDROME was okay, but slightly lackluster in my opinion. I decided to move to COAL, their most recent albums.

Wow. Just wow. Leprous are simply getting better and better as time goes by. Let me explain why this album is so great.

As you can see, they reverted to their original short number of long tracks on the album instead of more short songs. This time, I feel like they knew their way after BILATERAL how to deal with their sound. In fact, they perfected it from the last time they used it. Their longer longer tracks show this change in a very positive light.

There are some of my favorite metal songs of all time on this album as well, such as 'Chronic', 'Coal', and 'The Valley'. None of the songs are bad; in fact, all of them are at the least 4.5/5 rating songs. The album has an even number of tracks, so I can easily split it up into two different parts. Therefore, I shall rate both parts of the album as it's own.

The original part is good, aside from the slightly boring 'Foe'. Is immediately salvaged by the second track 'Chronic', which takes their slower music and gives us a hugely suspenseful buildup. The second part is equally good, with the amazing 'The Valley'. I totally recommend this album for any metal or a prog fan for that matter.

Go give it a listen.

(Originally Written for the Metal Music Archives on 2014-10-27)