Leprous - Melodies of Atonement

Angry Metal Guy

Leprous and Angry Metal Guy have a contentious relationship. Once a critical darling in the eyes of Our Beholder, the Norwegian then neophytes released works that bustled with a “triumphant groove,” and presented a full band swirling in deeply layered, metal-minded melodrama. All against the traditional backdrop of tight, syncopated rhythms and with a vocalist whose siren-like tenor captured melodies that others simply couldn’t, Leprous lit a vision of progressive metal that was as emergent as it was rooted in the technical playfulness that has long inhabited the genre. Yet, journeying on with 2017’s Malina, and now continuing into Melodies of Atonement, Leprous—or namely, main man Einar Solberg—has iterated on different ideas of how Leprous strikes. Redemption, though, comes not at the eyes of those who judge blindly but through the ears of those who listen.

Early Leprous endeavors lived through characters stumbling through sleeplessness or crying out in a nightmare land. The journey from 2015’s The Congregation and onwards would, instead, see lyrical themes shift away from surrealist struggle and into “I”-centered narratives, which has continued well into the material here. In tandem Leprous shifted from a band at play to a band at work lifting the melancholy of moody pop refrains, spending less time in a snaking shuffle and more in a calculated chorus swell. Full of vocal gymnastics and repetitive, belted hooks, Pitfalls and Aphelion painted a Leprous who lay largely subservient to quiet storm builds and Eurovision key changes. None of these traits are inherently bad, but when an album rest on tactics like that the need for great chorus-driven songs arises—the goal of whimsy and exploration becomes harder and harder to find. Or, at least, the audience shifts.

In the face of this persistent struggle, or urge rather, to reshape the Leprous identity, Melodies of Atonement takes head on the challenge of remaining an interesting and encouraging band in the face of this pomp-needing platform. Embracing decidedly modern synth tones that pulse like a feverish, tucked-away dance floor (“Atonement,” “Limbo”), Leprous finds renewed vigor in both their song-leaning aspirations and sneaky, frenetic instrumental layers. Co-founding guitarist Tor Oddmund Suhrke has long been able to wield his strings as nimble, eclectic accompaniment—the trip-hop waltz “My Specter” and dreamy, dripping strut “Limbo” both finding a controlled, shrill, and warbling tone to cut in and around all else—while still crashing into low-end loaded chords against Solberg’s histrionic crescendos. In Melodies’ most vibrant move, late album crack “Faceless” sees both a restrained-to-explosive Solberg erupt amongst a plonking double bass walk and grand choir backing—a true wonder. Leprous can wear grandiosity well.

And while Melodies’ strongest moments hit that powerful stride for which modern Leprous aims, the total experience still finds an all to comfortable home in plaintive repetition and band-light expression. Though not quite a fault, it’s near a given that you’ll hear the title of any track across this run in the chorus. But both “I Hear the Sirens” and “Self Satisfied Lullaby” find an additional focus on their namesakes that feels like an extra layer of familiarity against the subtle and slow shifts that each has, in stark contrast to songs like “Atonement” and “Starlight,” where recurrences of highlight phrases and words build against urgent instrumentation and increasingly powerful vocal delivery. Unfortunately, this disparity in momentum creates an enjoyment barrier on repeat listens. In the case of “Starlight” that means that finishing the album on two lesser cuts feels like a chore, with “Unfree My Soul” coming off more as a cloying anthem of frustration in the shadow of greater peaks.

Perhaps in succession of Solberg’s solo works, Melodies of Atonement comes across soup-to-nuts as a mostly pleasing, diverse melodic experience. With previous outings, the issue of refrain after refrain of virtuosic wail defining the creases and crooks of each album’s wear made it hard to see why the whole of each experience needed to exist. The MENA scale, warbled lines that Solberg weaves throughout Melodies in “My Spectre,” “Sunken Ship,” and “Faceless” lift with a fresh breath the idiosyncratic and meticulous songcraft that Leprous has always had at their disposal. And in prime, Melodies exposes a rough and polished hypnotic sneer that carves similarly eclectic, song-driven works of late Dalbello or The Gathering. But the greatest of what those acts have to offer also comes loaded with consistently great—not just good—songs, a task at either level that remains out of reach for this iteration of Leprous.



Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Inside Out Music | Bandcamp¹
Websites: leprous.net | facebook.com/leprousband
Releases Worldwide: August 30th, 2024

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