MELODIES OF ATONEMENT

Leprous have returned three years after their last release. I've been pretty blunt in my disappointment with Aphelion, Pitfalls, and Malina. (Malina came out before I started this site, but I've mentioned it.) They went from being an inventive, dynamic metal act with some creative songwriting to a rather bland art-rock act that leaned way too heavily on sudden quiet-loud contrasts. Bilateral is one of my favorite albums of all time, so the last decade or so has been rather disappointing.

Vocalist and primary songwriter Einar Solberg said he wanted to strip away the orchestral elements that have been prominent on their last few records for this release, and that experiment largely pays dividends. Melodies of Atonement is Leprous's best album since The Congregation, though I wouldn't quite call this "good" as a whole. They're on the right path, however!

I'll start with the good parts of this album. Firstly, and most impressively, there are multiple songs here that I would call "good" without qualification. Aphelion and Pitfalls only had one of those apiece.

"Like a Sunken Ship" is pretty solid. The intro has a subtle, bluesy funkiness to it, and the electronic flourishes call to mind latter-era Porcupine Tree or 2000s King Crimson soundscapes. The heavy parts of this song are the best music on the whole album, and Einar even busts out some growls here. Leprous's strength has always been their metallic side, so it's nice to hear them embrace it more than they have in recent years.

The following track, "Limbo", is the best overall composition on the record. I'll touch on this more in a moment, but the build-up here is quite nice. I like the gradual evolution from its quiet opening to its tumbling, powerful climax.

"Starlight" is another solid track. Einar's vocals are varied here, as opposed to his usual vacillation between willowy falsetto and belting his lungs out. The guitar work is fun and distinctive, and it reminds me a lot of the growling guitar lines in Pink Floyd's "One of These Days".

More broadly, I appreciate the album's overall heavier feel. Parts of this record could definitely be called metal, though most of it is not. Aphelion, Pitfalls, and Malina all suffered from timbral and textural monotony, which made them grate on me. When the only difference song-to-song is the particular pattern of LOUD-quiet, it gets old. Here, the dynamism feels a bit more impactful and purposeful.

Unfortunately, the mediocre outweighs the good here. I wouldn't call this album "bad," for the most part, but a lot of it is just sort of dull.

As on Aphelion, most cuts open with gentle electronics of some sort, and that gets tiring after a while. What's especially jarring is that on the first few cuts, they integrate dubstep-style wub-wub-wubs into their music. This instantly makes everything feel very dated, like it's from 2012. Melodies of Atonement can feel somewhat backward-looking at times, evoking acts like Muse. "Self Satisfied Lullaby" even reminds me of Imagine Dragons in certain parts.

Einar frequently uses his falsetto during quiet moments, and I just don't like that. His vocals in these parts will have a willowy, whispery quality to them, and I simply do not enjoy whispery vocals. It's why I can't enjoy Billie Eilish.

Speaking of this band's quiet moments, they continue to simply slam quiet and loud parts together on most songs. Build-up of any sort is rare. That sort of bombast usually feels unearned and flat. It doesn't evoke any sort of emotional reaction in me.

Leprous made clear improvements on this record over Aphelion. It's nice to see them dipping their toes more consistently back into heavier waters. The songwriting was a bit more varied here, too. Melodies of Atonement isn't without its drawbacks. The band's incessant alternations of quiet electronics with gentle vocals and over-the-top explosions of melodrama with no buildup loses any impact it may have had rather quickly. Several of the songs here come across as samey. I'm hoping Leprous continue to improve on their next album, whenever that may come out.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2024/08/26/album-review-leprous-melodies-of-atonement/

"Silently Walking Alone" begins, it's LEPROUS; although the electronic side explodes in addition; Leprousian djent shears, the expressive voice. "Atonement" pushes the electro approach and lets Einar moderate the energy with the typical chorus; the violence is played on pop-new-dark wave verses, a delirium on his inner voices that make him wander. "My Specter" with this owl noise, a spectre of the night; a contemplative air with Einar juggling words; the explosive chorus, taking, Dantesque, apart. "I Hear the Sirens" for the sumptuous piece on a languid crescendo; the very emotional tense sound, bluffing; raw prog metal with a voice as a catalyst and the haunting keyboard. "Like a Sunken Ship" returns to the convoluted rock-pop of the last album; you need the cataclysmic chorus, the groovy riff and his growly voice to measure the power of the title, excellent mention again for the vocal.

"Limbo" wants to be commercial rock with a catchy swing, a monolithic synth and the nervous guitar that accompanies the dynamite drums; the finale with the rise brings grandiloquence and recalls the beautiful Leprousian hours. "Faceless" in bis repetita mode with a sad verse and the energetic chorus; the suave voice of Einar light and finally a solo worthy of the name, dark, vibrant. The catchy and stripped-down chorus, the hypnotic air, between ballad and musical torment. The finale is grandiose, explosive, demonstrative, to listen to religiously in concert. "Starlight" with a slow rise, a solo that marks during the crescendo; a rare latent break to settle down a little before taking the brutal prog metal path supported by his symphonic, theatrical voice. The second solo guitar comes out of the relative torpor with an ethereal ending. "Self-Satisfied Lullaby" a capella religious seconded by the velvety keyboard; a subtle, syncopated, latent synth-pop air with strange tones bordering on tribal accompanying Einar's unique voice. Dreamy voice, inserting itself into our mind, our ears, our unconscious; a beat like a break before the return of the synth and the high voice, on stripped-down LEPROUS. "Unfree My Soul" for the finale, a solemn ode piece with a drum pad prevalent on the soft, languid, intoxicating voice, like his father whom he accompanied to the end. A way to free one's soul, atonement being the only therapeutic way; an intense emotional title. Note "Claustrophobic" as a bonus on CD.

LEPROUS is direct, heavy, without frills; It is stripped down I insist and more focused on the explosions of impressive instruments and vocals. An opus that marks a break with their progressive enjoyable drifts of before, to be considered as a testament laid bare; violent and quickly flayed, ideal for those looking for the metallic side above all. Origin on Profilprog.

After Leprous vocalist Einar Solberg dropped his solo debut last year, I was hooked. Having come to his music from his collaborations with Ihsahn and Esa Holopainen, I was already in love with his acrobatic vocal antics. Being, of course, a longtime lover of prog rock and metal, I went into a "pop" Solberg album a questionable proposition, but I found Scandinavian melancholy pop to be a medium in which he worked surprisingly well, and I rated "16" as one of my favourite albums of 2023. So when I heard about the new album from his main band, Leprous, I knew I had to check it out.

Was I ever let down.

The album kicks off with "Silently Walking Alone", a decent opener that boasts some bouncing, grooving riffs and a bombastic singalong chorus. It's probably the high point of the album, though I note it sits closer to the Euro-pop- metal style of Amaranthe than it does to any progressive metal tradition. That's not a crime, but it's not exactly my preference. The album nosedives sharply after that opener, turning into an amorphous blob of Sad Pretty Boy brooding. Half-mumbled vocals sit atop bland electronics, a drawn-out slither through dull, lifeless, and unimpressive melodies set to limp bass drum samples and sub-bass drones. Is Einar Solberg almost always a treat to listen to? Yes. Is his seemingly half-hearted attempt at his usual vocal stunts enough to save this from being a boring slog? Not at all.

If you like progressive metal, you can skip this. If you like Imagine Dragons, consider giving this a shot.

Track Rating: Silently Walking Alone (6), Atonement (5), My Specter (4), I Hear the Sirens (5), Like a Sunken Ship (6), Limbo (6), Faceless (5), Starlight (6), Self-Satisfied Lullaby (5), Unfree My Soul (5).

Overall Rating: 5.3/10, or, 2 Stars, rounded down.

It's a grower. The first time I listened I was like... Wtf. Damn, it [%*!#]ing sucks. I gave it another try, I started enjoying it. It's not Leprous best effort, but it's definitely a nice addition to their discography.

The good thing is that sounds really fresh. You won't find a copy & paste product. The band is still trying to evolve. Einar is solid as [%*!#]. The band is friggin tight.

Silently Walking Alone, Self-Satisfied Lullaby, Unfree my soul, Limbo kicks ass.

The best is yet to come. I wouldn't be suprised the next release touches Coal, The Congregation or Malina magnitude. Way to go Leprous!!!!

Norwegian prog forerunners Leprous are now deep into their catalogue, expanding it with their eighth studio album 'Melodies of Atonement', enthusiastically striding towards the consolidation of their modern iteration that sees them playing with synths, deconstructing their songs, and presenting their inventive blend of vocal-forward compositions that approach the intensity of their first albums. In typical Leprous fashion, 'Melodies' is cerebrally melodic, hauntingly dramatic, and sonically intense, continuing their exploration of "quiet storm builds" in ever more inventive ways. The album seems to be a tad bit more diverse than its predecessor 'Aphelion' and a little more reliant upon the vocals' utilization as a key element of the songwriting, which ultimately seems to render some of the songs less rewarding in comparison to other heavyweights of the progressive metal scene.

Leprous even dare to explore the domain of the anthemic with the opening track, and to emphasize it even more on the choral section of 'Faceless', something that they are not so well-known for, and through the expansion of their musical vocabulary, show a great tendency for synth pomp, extremely overblown on the challenging 'Self-Satisfied Lullaby'. Even if creatively bold musical passages are present all throughout, the record mainly lacks in songwriting, with the drums standing a little more at the back, and even if there are quite a few technically intriguing moments, like the endings of 'I Hear the Sirens' or 'Like a Sunken Ship,' what becomes evident from 'Melodies of Atonement' is that Leprous are still stronger in the heavier and more intense moments, which they have occasionally been able to successfully mesh with playful, minimal and atmospheric instrumental build-ups; a strategy that generally tends to be a double-edged sword.

'Melodies' is nevertheless a good album that showcases the stylistic diversity of the band as well as their ability to create innovatively minimal and emotional progressive rock, incorporating a semi-art-pop approach towards the composition of heavy music.