LEPROUS — Bilateral (review)

LEPROUS — Bilateral album cover Album · 2011 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
bonnek
After being blown away by their debut 'Tall Poppy Syndrome', 'Bilateral' was a much anticipated album for 2011. And I must say that I'm not disappointed. Leprous built further on their songwriting and playing strengths; they also dropped most of their extreme vocals, which I find a wise choice in their case.

Leprous are probably the most exciting thing in prog metal since a long long time. I may prefer Riverside but Leprous dares to cover more ground, with keyboards that avoid traditional neo and prog metal cliches in favor of a more modern approach. The keyboards are maybe comparable to Porcupine Tree's Barbieri, who also favors texture and original sounds above the usual twiedeliwiedelie keyboard runs. So far with the Porcupine Tree references, as the guitars, drums and vocals are far more metal and more prog then Porcupine Tree. The sound is fuller, heavier and more metallic, and vocalist Solberg just has the perfect voice. Could I compare him to a cross of Daniel Gildenglow with that guy from Haken? Something along those lines maybe.

The masterpiece of the album is the 10 minute 'Forced Entry', the remainder of the tracks are shorter but keep a lot of things going and always have an element of surprise, twisting known song formats inside out and spicing everything up with everything that can be expected from prog metal, such as haphazard time-signatures, scenic songwriting, over-the-top theatricality, and - unusual for the genre - great vocals. Ihsahn shrieks an appearance on 'Thorn', which also features some interesting sax.

Leprous is a unique band that succeeds in marrying the attractions of classic prog metal with a fresh approach that is aggressive and modern, avoiding both the cliches and the cheese, and remaining entirely fascinating throughout the entire album. I'm pretty sure this is one of the best Prog Metal albums of recent years. Haven't stopped playing this for weeks on end now.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

EP III Metal Related
SOFTEN THE GLARE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tonight We Hunt Groove Metal
HOUR-GLASS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Scorched Souls Crossover Thrash
ZERRE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Working With The Bleed Sludge Metal
PERIOD SEX
Buy this album from MMA partners
Killing for Revenge Death Metal
SIX FEET UNDER (FL)
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Hour-Glass - Tonight We Hunt (Official Music Video)
HOUR-GLASS
Bosh66· 1 day ago
(H)our-Glass - Age of Fire (Official Music Video)
HOUR-GLASS
Bosh66· 1 day ago
(H)our-Glass - The Eyes of the Beast (Official Music Video)
HOUR-GLASS
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Fire From Heaven - Bury or Burn (Metal Instrumental visualizer)
FIRE FROM HEAVEN
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Fire From Heaven - Day Of Indignation feat. Hard Look (lyric video) Symphonic Fantasy Death Metal
FIRE FROM HEAVEN
Bosh66· 2 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed