Progressive pop is what I would call Leprous’ last two albums. While they still have some of their early metal tendencies, they write music now that has a much broader appeal. I’ve introduced them to people who’ve never cared for a note of metal in their life, and these people by and large love the music.
Highlights *
Einar Solberg and Baard Kolstad. The lead vocalist/writer and the drummer. These two people make the band. Don’t get me wrong, every musician in the band is top-tier, and I don’t say this to diminish their work. But Einar and Baard are at an entirely other level. Einar has the voice and range of an angel, with the power of an opera singer but the timbre of a rockstar. He can growl and scream with the best of them, but 70-80% of the music is his more melodic singing voice. Baard is a ridiculous powerhouse on the drums. He is creative, he can smash a china stack, his singles are otherworldly, and he just has an amazing ear for groove, while still being able to move over the top of it.
- 1 – Running Low
- Einar: We have to take a grand piano on tour this year. Band: Why? Einar: I want to reach in and pluck the low bass strings for the first 30 seconds of this song. Band: … Is there… is there another way to accomplish this? Maybe some samples? Einar: Nope!
I love how the album opens. These low plucked piano strings with just Einar singing over the top. The chorus to the song is so happy and poppy. Some great Baard fills in this one, and some excellent cello work in the bridge.
- 4 – All the Moments
- Upon hearing the first couple measures of this song, you would be forgiven for thinking you’d accidentally switched over to a southern country rock album. That twangy guitar. Anyway, the chorus to this song really opens up – it has a very epic feel with the background vocals and strings beneath Einar’s singing. The bridge gets so low and quiet you think you’ve faded out, very beautiful. Then it comes back to that chorus for a dramatic ending.
- 6 – The Silent Revelation
- Believe it or not, at six songs deep, we get the first really grooving rocker on the album. The song opens in the tradition of a lot of older Leprous songs like “The Price” and “From the Flames” – a really fast and fun groove to get going (that you find out eventually is the chorus progression), then it mellows down a bit into the verse before hitting that chorus in full force. My wife loves this one.
- 7 – On Hold
- This song hits me in the feels. The messages in the song feel straight off of their album “Pitfalls,” deeling with themes of loneliness and not knowing oneself. While overall it has a ballad-like feel, there are some great grooves and that chorus is so epic, especially the huge build into the very last chorus. One of the darker songs on the album, but absolutely beautiful.
- 8 – Castaway Angels
- Einar: I’m going to write one of the most beautiful, charming, slow songs to ever show up on a progressive rock album. Baard: That’s fine, I’m still going to steamroll you like a tank by the end.
Probably the popppiest, most approachable ballad on the album, this song is just stinking beautiful. It is so soft, so melodic. Einar sings in almost a whisper for the first verse and chorus, and then you get the full effect of both him and the band afterward. Baard creates an extraordinarily intricate groove starting halfway through the second verse, leading into a huge buildup and release for the last chorus. And what a release. Though it’s a poignant song, it still feels uplifting at the end. Going into…
- 9 – Nighttime Disguise
- Somehow, with every album, Leprous does it. They release a song that becomes one of my favorite songs of all time. Listening to this album as an actual album (so having “Castaway Angels” fade away into this song) creates one hell of an effect to let you know you’re at the denouement of something big. With an album that overall feels as epic as this, to say that the ending is a climax of climaxes seems like so much hyperbole, but boy it’s true. The groove is another Baard special and I can’t help feeling overall this is a “Baard” song (in the same way that “Drive In, Drive Out” by DMB is a “Carter” song). While Einar and crew didn’t write the song specifically to highlight the drums, there is no doubt that Baard took up a lot of the reigns. We get some amazing grooves through the verses (switching from heavily syncopated 4/4 in the first verse to very straight 7/4 in the second), absolutely HUGE choruses and then an ending that brings the full band (with accompanying orchestration) into a rampage. Einar gives us his most Einar-y screams of the album (my daughter asks “How does he make his voice sound like that?” I just don’t know…) to let us know it’s over. A storm in disguise.
The story of the song’s creation is pretty interesting in and of itself – it was crowdsourced by fans, much of the writing livestreamed to those who paid, and the fans could contribute input. Leprous fans know good stuff.
Rating: 10