Conor Fynes 'Aeolia' - Leprous (6/10)

Since breaking onto the scene, Leprous has gone through a not-unnoticeable development in their sound. While I am not a huge fan of this earlier work, they blew me away with their third opus 'Bilateral', which came in as one of my top albums of the year. With Leprous now having become one of the most adventurous progressive metal acts out there today, it's interesting to see them at a more primitive stage in their development. All the same, 'Aeolia' has its share of fans and lovers; a group I am sadly not a part of. Attempting to reintroduce myself to the earlier work of this band in the hopes that my love for 'Bilateral' might sway me to the other side, but it hasn't happened. That's not to say that 'Aeolia' is a bad album, it has plenty of strengths. But even outside of its retrospective context and comparison with the masterpiece 'Bilateral', there are still some flimsy issues that keep me from calling this a great album.

As the backing band for former Emperor frontman Ihsahn, it can be taken for granted that Leprous are excellent musicians. Despite their youth, they are able to execute complex arrangements. 'Aeolia' sees Leprous following somewhat in the footsteps of Dream Theater, only without the same devotion to instrumental indulgence. What Leprous aims for is highly vocal-driven progressive metal, something they still aspire to today, in some regards. As the vocals are arguably the most important aspect of Leprous at this point, it should be noted that Einar Solberg has an excellent voice, and is able to pull off some jaw- dropping vocal acrobatics, without losing any of the emotional intensity.

Halvor Strand's jazzy bass lines also stand out as one of 'Aeolia's better aspects. In short, it would be difficult for just about anyone to say bad things about the way Leprous plays. The band's performance is largely what holds 'Aeolia' together. Although this is a full-length, it is described on the band's website as a 'demo', and rightly so; it has a very muffled production, often to the point where the warmth and detail of the guitar performances are obscured. 'Aeolia' is certainly listenable in regards to the sound quality, but it totally lacks the studio dynamic I would hear even on their second album, 'Tall Poppy Syndrome'.

Of course, everything about an album boils down to the composition and songwriting. With 'Aeolia', it is something of a double-edged sword. Most of the musical concepts here have plenty of potential, and some of Einar's vocal melodies are almost painfully catchy to listen to (the chorus of 'Black Stains' will testify to this). Where 'Aeolia' goes wrong, however, is its predictability. Once the layout of Leprous' music is digested, it becomes easy to tell where melodies, ideas, or even entire songs are going to go, long before they're done. Perhaps it doesn't help that the production dulls the range of sound, but the dynamics in these songs feels bland. Paired with an inconsistent flow and unsteady use of ideas, 'Aeolia' comes across as being an album with plenty of potential, but misses its mark.

Stephen My first experience with LEPROUS is through this album and I was quite shocked at how innovative this Norwegian band can be. There are a lot, and I mean a lot, of varied elements and influences incorporated here, from the classic 70s style of KING CRIMSON, to the harsh death metal hooks of OPETH, from the alternative/prog touch of MUSE, and to the atmospheric part of PORCUPINE TREE, they're all there, mixed with their original style.

'Bilateral' is melodic and they smartly burst the chorus with fast-paced tempo. 'Forced Entry' is the longest tune, colorful and rich in textures, somehow melodic and with complex tempo, however it's not really difficult to digest. 'Thorn' is a challenge track for me. It has jazzy feel with doom element in the middle, the semi-growl vocal can be mixed with trumpets, and they blow it with aggressive rhythm, what a crazy acrobatic tune!

'Mb.Indifferentia' is a peaceful tune, I can sense the 70s psychedelic influence in it, I like it, but not really with 'Waste of Air'. This is extreme song but felt extremely flat to me. 'Medicority Wins' is a mediocre track and 'Cryptogenic Desires' is okay but not great. 'Painful Detour', the second longest track, pretty good but I still think 'Forced Entry' being the better one.

Kudos to their risky approach with ‘Bilateral’. Like I said, this is complex but highly accessible, but you still need to concentrate to really enjoy this one. I understand why some love it, while other hates it. This isn't for everyone, but as a casual prog fan, I think it deserved at least a respectable 75%

adg211288 Bilateral is the second album from Norwegian progressive metal act Leprous. The 2011 album also has avant-garde qualities and features a quest vocal slot from notable black and prog metal artist Ihsahn (ex-Emperor) during the track Thorn. The band’s entire line-up has performed with Ihsahn live for his solo material. Given Ihsahn’s strengths as an artist you know he’s not going to have just anyone backing him up in the live environment, and Leprous certainly showcase the skills to be a force to be reckoned with on Bilateral. But before you get your hopes up for a masterpiece read on.

The music here is not always the heaviest that I’ve heard for something branded as metal, even though the band can still whack out an aggressive riff every now and then and there are some harsh vocals within the album. There’s a lot of light and atmospheric stuff on the album, too much really to consider Bilateral to be completely metal. Bilateral strikes me more along the lines of atmospheric metal even at the times when the band heavy it up, adding that avant-garde twist to give a weird feel to some of the sections. To be honest so long as the music is good I couldn’t really care less if the band doesn’t blast out their stuff as intensely as humanly possible, and this is especially okay for the progressive metal genre which isn’t a style you should be looking to if all you want is bone crushing riffs. There’s just one problem with Leprous’ Bilateral though; for all the technical and progressive prowess that the band shows much of Bilateral is just plain boring. It’s all very well being flash, but when the songs lack any sort of substance, things just go straight down the drain.

While I won’t go quite as far as say that Bilateral is offensively bad, we’re are still dealing with some pretty soulless prog here that is lacking that distinct spark to make it awesome. If the band had gone down the atmospheric prog rock route for the whole album then we may have been talking a success story instead, but the fact that there is still enough metal here to warrant the prog metal tag despite the amount of light stuff means that the music sounds as if the metal was added for the sake of it. You can hear it, but it’s just there, adding nothing to the overall quality of the music. Rarely do the guitars knock out a riff of note, which is what really holds this back on the metal front. It took until the fourth track, Thorn, before Leprous delivered something on this front. Waste of Air also has a heavier sound than what the album had led me to believe was the norm up until that point, but with a 5:33 duration it’s only so far into the track I can get without noting how repetitive the guitars really are much of the time. It’s still one of the album’s stronger moments overall, but it just reinforces that feeling that the metal is there just for the sake of it.

The vocals don’t help either. Although there are some growls most of the vocals are clean and melodic, which is fitting enough for the atmospheric stuff in itself but it’s a bland performance that puts me in mind of all those so called rock acts that get chart success than anything remotely suited to metal. Even Ihsahn showing up in a single track can’t really save the vocal front. It dawns on me that maybe I just get a new perspective a review Bilateral from a different angle, but ultimately I write for metal sites, who expect a metal perspective, and upon its conclusion Bilateral just didn’t work for me on a metal level. I’d really like it to be otherwise, since these guys really do show that they have the chops to be exceptional, but that’s all Bilateral really has going for it.

I guess that if this style of prog/avant-garde is your thing then Bilateral would sound a lot better to your ears then it did to mine. I’d say the track Acquired Taste is quite aptly named and that a fan’s only rating would be most appropriate overall, but the fact that it’s a metal album and it’s the metal that let this one down means that fan’s only rating is decidedly lower end.

3.2/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

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.

Conor Fynes 'Bilateral' - Leprous (10/10)

2009 saw the Norwegian band Leprous enjoyed some underground success with 'Tall Poppy Syndrome', an album that impressed me somewhat, but rose to the tops of many prog metalheads' year-end lists. Suffice to say, I was not able to fully jump on the hype bandwagon for Leprous back then, seeing their music as maybe a little cheesy and being proggy for prog's sake. Nonetheless, I was made very aware of the band's immense potential from that album, and I figured that it would only be a matter of time before these Norwegians released something that would blow me away. Sure enough, come 2011 they finally have made an album that places them among the frontrunners of the new wave of progressive metal.

'Bilateral' may be something of a tough pill to swallow for those that most enjoyed 'Tall Poppy Syndrome', but for me, Leprous seems to have addressed all of the problems I had with them before, while retaining their good qualities. The most evident development for them has been largely in terms of ambition; what they are willing to do with their sound. There have been some steps taken toward a more sporadic style. The songwriting is more packed with ideas, some of them quite experimental and unexpected, although the memorable melodic component of Leprous is not toned down at all. 'Bilateral' is quite a bit to take in all at once, and I am finding that it is very much a 'grower' album; the constant flow of ideas can make it a little disorienting at first, and while the flow between these ideas can sometimes be a tad off-putting, the sheer excellence of the melodies and newfound weirdness makes Leprous all the more interesting of a listen.

As one might judge even by the surreal album cover (whose artist is also known for composing some of The Mars Volta's artwork), Leprous is not afraid to try new things. The title track contrasts remarkably layered vocal hooks with a mellow section of deep electronics. 'Painful Detour' is a slower, powerful song that gives the 'epic' impression of Muse as it hits its climax. 'Thorn' even shows the band's friend Ihsahn (from classic black metal act Emperor) doing a quick vocal cameo before letting a trumpet solo pop up for a moment. All of these things come as a huge surprise at first. While I would say at this point that Leprous has found their own sound with this album, they do remind me of a younger Pain of Salvation here, in the sense that they are a prog metal band that is focusing more on emotional impact and surprises rather than the sort of power-metal derivative that many newer prog metal bands go for. The Pain of Salvation comparison hits its peak with the vocal technique of Einar Solberg, whose diverse vocal register and complex ad-libbing accents his performance in a way that really reminds me of Dan Gildenlow.

'Bilateral' shows that even if the melodic side of prog metal has withered in recent years, there are still ways of making it sound progressive without falling into all of the prog pitfalls. Leprous still isn't completely fargone from the genre, but they have taken some adventurous steps here that really see my respect for them as a band skyrocket. 'Bilateral' is one of the few masterpieces of progressive metal that I have thus heard in 2011, and being very much of a 'grower' album, I can only see it holding its ground as the year grinds on.