Leprous – Melodies of Atonement

Unless you are living under a (progressive) rock, you have heard the name Leprous at least once or twice. The Norwegian quintet has been very proficient in the last few years, headlining most of the big-name progressive metal festivals. Their music has transformed quite a lot: from gnarly, raw and chaotic metal (“Aeolia”, “Tall Poppy Syndrome”) to more melodic and atmospheric synth-driven sound with orchestral elements in later albums. Einar Solberg (vocals, keyboards) himself refuses to call Leprous a metal band now – as the band sound now relies more on Einar’s clean vocals and sounds more radio-friendly and less metal elements like heavy riffs (although you can still hear those here and there) and guitar solos are present.

When announcing “Melodies of Atonement”, the band claimed that they moved away from the orchestral elements, promising a new-old, heavier sound, which made people speculate: “Is Leprous metal again?”, “Will Einar scream again?”, which naturally made a lot of people, especially Leprous fans, curious about the record.

So now, after hearing the album, can I answer these questions? Let’s dive in and find out.

The album starts with ‘Silently Walking Alone’ and ‘Atonement’, the singles that have been released already. Those songs definitely have a good mix of quite heavy riffs here and there, the synthy sound the band is known for, and great vocal and guitar hooks (especially in ‘Atonement’, with “And it’s all because of you” bit stuck in my head for a good while), but also the elements of “Newprous” are also there – vocal harmonies, poppy chorus, Einar’s vocal delivery.

‘My Specter’ is the next song, featuring a very moody keyboard intro, and overall it reminded me of ‘Lower’ from “The Congregation”, which I absolutely love, with a similar louder climax towards the chorus, and repeating “Tonight, tonight, tonight” as a vocal hook. ‘I Hear the Sirens’ is less memorable, and I can see it being on Einar’s solo record as well as a Leprous record.

Then we got ‘Like A Sunken Ship’, the third single, which features a very tasteful drum and bass intro which allows Simen Børven (bass) and Baard Kolstad (drums) to drive the song nicely towards the chorus and then… We finally got it, guys! Einar is screaming again! For the whole of five seconds. It took me off guard, but it didn’t feel forced at all, I actually quite liked the evolution of the composition here. Also, Baard bought a cowbell, and he’s not afraid to use it here (and in some other places in the album), and more cowbell is always better than less cowbell. The second half of the song definitely felt like something from “The Congregation”, and it shows how Leprous still stays Leprous, despite all the changes in sound. Great song.

“Fireball, fireball”… ‘Limbo’ features interesting lyrical choices, but I must admit it’s quite catchy, so I don’t mind that. Overall, the song builds up nicely, with an eerie synth melody in the background and gripping guitars throughout. The chorus however took me off guard, as the vocal hook is very pop and contrasts quite a bit with the verses. Very interesting song. Towards the end it goes into a drum breakdown and a vocal line similar to what I heard on Einar’s solo album – this song is all over the place, but I enjoyed it.

‘Faceless’ is up next, and it might be the song of the album for me – beautiful piano arrangement, interesting bass line sounding like it’s played on double bass. Einar Solberg’s voice sounds very soft and vulnerable – which adds the emotion to the song. I’m not always a fan of the band’s repeated vocal hooks (“Never go alone”, in this case) but I didn’t mind it so much, as it didn’t drag for too long. The song kept building on, and “I’m not the faceless now” might be my favourite moment on “Melodies of Atonement”, morphing into a completely new vocal melody before going quiet again.

And then, what is this? A guitar solo in Leprous song? That is a rare feat, but good to see they give Robin Ognedal some time to shine, too. Then it goes back to repeated “Never go alone” which goes on for too long in my opinion, but I loved the choral part towards the end. Overall, it might be the best Leprous song since the beloved ‘The Sky is Red’.

The last three songs are perhaps less memorable, although all of them have something that saves them from being forgettable – for ‘Starlight’ it’s its chorus with beautiful singing (Einar’s voice isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s once again quite outstanding here, and gives the band a lot of unique identity, even if the melody structure can be a bit repetitive) coupled with guitar melody which almost feels independent (where’s my 4/4?). ‘Self-Satisfied Lullaby’ is a quieter song, and while it might lack the emotional climax like in ‘The Cloak’ (“The Congregation”), I loved the guitars in the last part of the song. ‘Unfree My Soul’ is a solid closer, even though I feel like ‘Faceless’ could fit there just fine too, and essentially it combines everything we heard in the album into one song: quiet bass intro, heavier guitar parts and catchy and emotional chorus. All in all, the album doesn’t seem like a drag, even though I found some songs less memorable and more “I heard this somewhere before”.

So, “Melodies of Atonement”, what is it? To me, it definitely is not “Bilateral 2”, but neither is it a “Pitfalls” sequel. Leprous didn’t go full metal, which might be a disappointment for the old fans, but it isn’t quite pop either. I quite enjoyed the album overall as it features a lot of interesting composition ideas (even if I heard them in “16” before), catchy choruses, and, of course, pure top class musicianship from the Norwegians. We got a glimpse of Einar’s harsh vocals here, but don’t expect much of it elsewhere – for better or worse, it feels more like more recent albums, but I heard the echoes of “The Congregation” in there too, which I am not complaining about.

I have been a fan of the band since “Bilateral”, and it took me a while to start liking the newer sound, but I can recommend trying to forget the older albums existed and try to take the new record at face value – as it’s a very solid record, with a lot of ideas that don’t feel stale, even if some others I already heard before. And we should probably accept that the “Tall Poppy Syndrome” sound is not coming back.

Track List:

1. Silently Walking Alone
2. Atonement
3. My Specter
4. I Hear the Sirens
5. Like a Sunken Ship
6. Limbo
7. Faceless
8. Starlight
9. Self-Satisfied Lullaby
10. Unfree My Soul