ALBUM REVIEW: Melodies Of Atonement – Leprous
Those reading only to see if the shallow dream of ‘LEPROUS being heavy again’ has become a reality can look elsewhere. No, LEPROUS haven’t been ‘the same’ since 2015’s The Congregation, and they likely never will. But this isn’t a curse to pray away at the bedside each night, LEPROUS are doing what any good progressive rock band does; progressing. The theatrics of vocalist Einar Solberg that once merely accented the band’s sound now lead this new era of rock opera in which they have raised their battlements. As the world prepares for the coming of their eighth full-length album, Melodies Of Atonement, the Norwegians sit upon another triumph to join their history of growing accolades.
LEPROUS stand upon a congested and fiercely fought podium in prog rock and metal. Even as labelmates, they compete with contemporaries HAKEN, CALIGULA’S HORSE and WHEEL, who have all found themselves on auspiciously vertical trajectories for much of the last decade. Yet, despite each being in the business of evolving one’s sound, it is LEPROUS who have been perceived to have undergone the most drastic changes, and not for the right reasons. Reductive narratives around the band’s utilisation of electronic and orchestral elements spark the debate of LEPROUS losing their ‘edge’; arguments that are easily unravelled upon actually listening to the band’s work. Unfortunately, for metal, this is a tale as old as time. A band is perceived to get ‘softer’ and thus old men will yell at the clouds, it’s a sure thing at this point.
In reality, LEPROUS never blunted their knives, they just chose a different whetstone. Since 2019’s Pitfalls, they have honed this particular edge and now, in Melodies…, their new effort joins 2021’s Aphelion to complete an unofficial triad of operatic weapons. Despite still keeping their eight-string axes sharpened throughout, these albums do away with traditional skull-crushing and unleash a very pure, emotional weight that has done well to keep Norway’s finest refined and distinct enough to cut through the noise. While Pitfalls honoured its namesake with abject melancholy and Aphelion doubled down on the band’s flirtatious affinity with orchestral nuances, Melodies… sees these historically labyrinthine creators take a more direct, near Spartan approach. The songs are led, yet again, by Solberg’s defining vocals, but the quintet’s remaining talent finds themselves with more room to breathe across the tracklist. The harsh crackles and snaps from Baard Kolstad’s drumkit have never sounded quite so fierce, and the two-pronged guitar lines of stalwart Tor Oddmund Suhrke and Robin Ognedal stand proud as they trade wails for bellows and delicate plucks for crooning solos. On paper, LEPROUS have never sounded better.
In execution, this is still mostly the case, but Melodies… does find frustrating snags at the tail-end of its runtime. The majority of the album’s melodies, however, leave nothing to atone for. Leading strong with its first two singles, Silently Walking Alone and Atonement, the album crashes open with a pondering and powerful rager that leaves an aftertaste of PAIN OF SALVATION while Atonement wins gold for the most infectious hook on offer. Other moments find the band taking pleasure in the calm before the storm. Limbo, My Specter, I Hear The Sirens and Faceless may follow a similar route from A-B but provide distinct flavours of tension as they build to their eruptive second halves. In all elements of the five-piece’s craft, there is a sense of desperate emotion, resonant in a way that seemingly only LEPROUS can replicate. There are more technical, more musically impressive prog bands, for sure, but Melodies… seeks none of this glory. It strives to be simple, but with the power to move listeners and to be remembered in doing so.
Like A Sunken Ship is by and large the album’s greatest example. From its characterful ‘Lalala’ vocalisations on its chorus, the impending crescendo that stands hairs on end in eager anticipation, to the demonic growls that bookend a rare moment of the band being swallowed by rage. Not all is gold, however. Self-Satisfied Lullaby is an aptly-named bedtime ‘banger’ that fails to get over the start line, and Starlight, while by all means an improvement, fails to justify six minutes of runtime and betrays its well-written guitar-led centrepiece. Album finale Unfree My Soul, combined with the production magic of David Castillo throughout, is enough to rid the sour taste of these minor disappointments but they’re hard to ignore among what is easily some of LEPROUS’ most memorable, most dynamic material in recent years.
LEPROUS have never been more themselves in defying their own conventions. For those who found themselves alienated by the lack of caveman antics, Melodies Of Atonement will provide no respite. But for those justly enamoured by these ensnaring Norwegians, you’ll find a rewarding and luscious soundscape of rock music that is without a true equal. This is an album forged by love and delicate craftsmanship, best served standing still, so it may move you.
Rating: 8/10
Melodies Of Atonement is set for release on August 30th via InsideOut Music.
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