Kategorie: CD-Reviews | Genre: Prog, Metal | Heft: Jahrgang 2013, eclipsed Nr. 150 / 5-2013 | VÖ-Jahr: 2013 | Wertung: 8/10 | Label: InsideOut | Autor: MB
The adventurous journey of Leprous continues. Since their debut album "Tall Poppy Syndrome" (2009), the Norwegians, who were once launched as a prog session band for Black Metal icon Ihsahn, have undergone a crazy musical development. Already on "Bilateral" (2011) one showed oneself emancipated from the original approach (Black Metal, paired with classical Progrock of the seventies and jazzy passages). With the incomparably darker "Coal" you can now go even further. The quintet's palette of noctodes now seems almost unlimited, the biggest similarities at the moment are probably with free spirits like Devin Townsend or Pain Of Salvation. The vocals range from angel-like pop to nastily brutal, the riffs weigh a ton and are often served mathematically tricky. On all songs there is a peculiar melancholic heaviness, which never crushes. With "The Valley", "Echo" and the brute conclusion "Contaminate Me" you also have three longtrack hits up your sleeve. This fascinating sound strudel is hard to resist.
Top track: Echo