Leprous offer us a one of a kind melancholic journey at the depths of Einar Solberg’s soul, a lovely emotional album full of melodies that will be with us for a long time.
Indeed, this is not metal, yes, you won’t find easy hits but come on, what have they really achieved these incredible guys once again? It’s been ten years already that they follow their vision and we feel so lucky that this band exists and offer us their beautiful music.
“All of my stories are below” are the first words of Einar via the lyrics of “Below” (opening track and first single) that will introduce us to his personal experience with depression and anxiety, the main topic through out the album. We will watch all this through one paradox though, the first half of the album is full of electro beats, a strange choice as the listener may feel not only surprised but also the feeling of cognitive and sentimental dissonance. Take for example the dancing rhythm of “I Lose Hope” where you try to coordinate it with the pessimistic lyrics while “Observe The Train” comes like a lullaby (Don’t force it / The goal is not to feel electrical) and then an electro beat comes back again (“Be My Throne”) until the closing of side A with “Alleviate”, one of the albums highlights where Einar gives a great performance while the dive to the depth of this difficult disease carries on (“I hear the same old song / Voices from below / I fear it never goes away”)
“At The Bottom” opens side B that is in different style. Here, drums and guitars enter slowly the stage although it’s the amazing “Distant Bells” that shakes us once more as it grows step by step through seven terrific minutes (“And I fell to the ground yet again”) until the final music burst of the band. “Fight” rocks (you needed one, I know) but it’s still the less favourite track on the album (“It’s a fight to stay alive ”) but we already reached the end, the bewildering (talking about the music approach) “The Sky Is Red” where we can admire the drumming of Baard Kostadό that leads the composition while the lyrics keep ripping through our minds (“Trapped inside the flame, flames / With no chance of escape, escape”).
