new LEPROUS single and album

[petereanima]

I really like how they transformed over the years from "2nd hand Opeth" to ....well, whatever this is. Dug them back then, digging them today even more.

[RevDrucifer]

I’ll give it a listen on some good speakers later. I LOVE The Congregation, a LOT, but the album that followed I didn’t care for as much. It felt like they were taking that Muse approach where they had some really rockin’ killer tunes and then started doing the more ballad-like, lighter stuff. To be fair, I didn’t make it all the way through that album, so there could be a bunch of stuff on there that’s making me talk out my ass.

Great fucking band. My dad actually introduced me to them after showing me one of the drummers play-through video. That dude is INSANE!!!! Vocalist is really outstanding….such great control of his voice. I just like it when they get heavy!

[petereanima]

The new one seems to follow the last one, Pitfalls, directly. The "Muse approach" fully inherited meanwhile. I hear you though on the follow up to "Congregation" - on Malina, in my opinion, they were not there yet. All the elements of their new sound were there, but only with Pitfalls, everything was "round" and felt like it was meant that way.

[Naren]

The only Leprous album I don't have is their debut, Tall Poppy Syndrome (did that sound like Opeth? Because none of their other albums sound anything remotely like Opeth). Personally my favorite album by them is their second album, Bilateral (and the second track, Forced Entry, is my favorite track by Leprous out of 'em all). And generally the earlier the album, the more I like it, so I have to imagine I'd probably love Tall Poppy Syndrome (I think I looked to buy it and it either wasn't available to buy online or it was ridiculously expensive, so I didn't end up buying it, but maybe it'd be on there if I checked again). Bilateral, Coal, and The Congregation are all amazing. Malina and Pitfalls are hit and miss, I think. Overall, they're both good, but they are way less metal on the whole and way more... I almost want to say "pop." Sure, The Sky is Red off their most recent one, Pitfalls, is an absolute masterpiece and isn't that poppy at all, but most of the tracks on that album are way more pop rock/art rock with a strong progressive sound to it.

I'll definitely buy this new album when it comes out, but I personally would prefer something more like Bilateral, Coal, or The Congregation.

[playstopause]

I was pretty excited to listen to this, 'cause I love that band... But this falls on the "too rock / not heavy enough" side for me.

[petereanima]

The only Leprous album I don't have is their debut, Tall Poppy Syndrome (did that sound like Opeth?

Yes, it did a lot. Great album by the way, highly recommended. Listeining to it nowadays, you can already kinda hear their "signature", while still being heavily influenced by e.g. Opeth.

And i absolutely hear you on Pitfalls and Malina being more proggy art rock/pop than metal. I think it's what they do best, to be honest. I did not like Bilateral and Congreation when they came out, i might recheck on them again nowadays. They lost me after Tall Poppy Syndrome, and only with Malina I started to listen to them. Pitfalls is their peak performance imho. Anyway, i think it's also what makes them such a great band - they have a "favorite" record for many different tastes.

[beneharris]

Finally. This is a step in the right direction. The last few have just been stinkers for me. Bilateral is such an awesome album, and I felt they somehow just lost it with Malina.

[beneharris]

The guitar tone in this song is great.

[Naren]

Yes, it did a lot. Great album by the way, highly recommended. Listeining to it nowadays, you can already kinda hear their "signature", while still being heavily influenced by e.g. Opeth.

And i absolutely hear you on Pitfalls and Malina being more proggy art rock/pop than metal. I think it's what they do best, to be honest. I did not like Bilateral and Congreation when they came out, i might recheck on them again nowadays. They lost me after Tall Poppy Syndrome, and only with Malina I started to listen to them. Pitfalls is their peak performance imho. Anyway, i think it's also what makes them such a great band - they have a "favorite" record for many different tastes.

I'm gonna try to see if I can buy it tomorrow. I love everything Leprous has put out, though I vastly prefer their early stuff. And Opeth has been one of my favorite bands for a really, really long time now, so if their debut album has a heavy Opeth influence, I see that as a good thing.

There have been a ton of albums that have taken a while to grow on me, but that hasn't been the case for anything by Leprous. I've seen people say that they didn't like Bilateral or Coal and it just blew my mind how anyone could not like those albums.

I mean, this song is a pure masterpiece from beginning to end (though I saw a live performance where they butchered the whole thing. It was bizarre since Einar is such an amazing singer, but his vocals live were abysmal - then again, even Freddie Mercury had bad nights):

[Hulk Krogan]

The only Leprous album I don't have is their debut, Tall Poppy Syndrome

Oh dude, get on that. It's great. Passing is a killer song.

Count me among the people that much preferred their earlier stuff. I think Coal was the last album I really got into. It's weird; I liked how the vocals on the older, more metal stuff often had kind of a pop/rock quality to them, but now that the music is more in line with that vibe, the vocals sound out of place to me somehow. Go figure.

[Naren]

Oh dude, get on that. It's great. Passing is a killer song.

Count me among the people that much preferred their earlier stuff. I think Coal was the last album I really got into. It's weird; I liked how the vocals on the older, more metal stuff often had kind of a pop/rock quality to them, but now that the music is more in line with that vibe, the vocals sound out of place to me somehow. Go figure.

I was able to find the album after some searching this morning and I'm listening to it now. To be honest, I didn't expect it, but Peter was completely right. This album sounds a lot like Opeth. It's bizarre since none of their other albums sound anything remotely like Opeth, but this first one has the same kind of riffs, the same acoustic arpeggio parts, kind of jazzy and melancholy keyboard/piano parts (which their later albums do not have), rhythms and patterns that sound like the kind of stuff that Opeth would write on their stuff before they completely changed styles, the smooth creamy bluesy and jazzy guitar leads (which Opeth has a ton of, but Leprous has on only this one album), and is the only Leprous album to have any death growls. It really is an awesome album (which I fully expected, considering how much I love the band and prefer their earlier stuff).

I get what you mean about how the somewhat poppy/pop rocky vocals over more metal stuff gets a better vibe than the poppy vocals over pop rock.