Leprous - The Congregation review
| Band: | Leprous |
| Album: | The Congregation |
| Style: | Progressive metal |
| Release date: | May 2015 |
01. The Price
02. Third Law
03. Rewind
04. The Flood
05. Triumphant
06. Within My Fence
07. Red
08. Slave
09. Moon
10. Down
11. Lower
12. Pixel [Mediabook / LP bonus]
It would be unlike Leprous to exercise restraint to the point of diminishment and place limitations on fresh efforts. Nonetheless, The Congregation is a compromise.
It's safe to say that all bands eventually reach stagnation, some for reasons of creativity waning, fading relevance and taking a style to its end. Such an end has yet to find Norway's Leprous, who seem to run on continual inspiration with ideas in progressive metal that are never out of reach or beyond their means. Further efforts in another record only affirm an admirable quality of the outfit; that they are innately immune from that which would kill inspiration.
Coal was characterised by seriousness in its graver intentions and a stark change and definition of mood coming off Bilateral. Inhibitions were forgotten for the latter as they indulged in creative fluidity and variety, the band as a whole acting on an underlying avant-garde impulse and securing a recorded expression of their own eclecticism. The notion of Leprous as lackeys of Ihsahn significantly decreased in validity due to such an expression, and represented a point at which the band realised their own style.
Said style and its performers have been maturing from record-to-record, culminating in The Congregation. That their singer Solberg is as assertive in this new material as he was in Coal - and then some, as he takes a complete hold over the compositions - comes as no surprise given the direction that that record took, and The Congregation continues to provide platform for the band's vocal strengths in their theatrical character and pride of place. Instrumentation serves its purpose for what is a vocally centred record; the syncopated rhythms that the band is well known for are prominent, building the bedrock for Solberg's melodic arrangements and keyboard rich tones. The presence of their new drummer in Kolstad sustains the band's consistent percussive flair, his kit control evident as he fills the track-list with unerring rhythm and offbeat ingenuity about the mainstay guitar duo. Collectively, the efforts of all band members can be heard distinctly in tight-knit arrangement, the production end again handled ably by Jens Bogren.
What Leprous sacrifice in order to further their direction initiated in Coal is the diversity best displayed by Bilateral. The focus requires curtailing eclecticism for that more specific approach to mood that Solberg's song writing brings. Though this is not to deny the variation that is present in the track-list, as the album changes face throughout its runtime while maintaining an overall aesthetic aim. This was the aim with Coal; a direction which they've now refined and taken to new material with clear resolve and versatility.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 9 |
| Production: | 9 |
 | Written on 26.05.2015 by R'Vannith enjoys music, he's hoping you do too. |
Comments
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Comments: 36
Visited by: 489 users
| BenWasHere Posts: 124  |
I felt like half the songs were filler with nothing that interesting to them, making this their weakest album for me. I really love their last three albums and was really excited for this one. My favorite song is easily The Flood
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| Nihil Aeternum Posts: 127  |
Great album. But this review is the most pretentious blah I ever read on MS.
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| Frombelow Posts: 35 |
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| Zap Guest Posts: 3517  |
It told me plenty about the album. Good review, even though I don't agree with everything in it. I wouldn't say it's a refinement of Coal's direction as much as it is just a continuation. In any case, I didn't enjoy The Congregation as much as that album.
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| Andreas Posts: 330 |
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| BloodTears ANA-thema Elite Posts: 11835  |
Still haven't listened to it but Leprous are one of the most interesting prog acts right now and consistently good. This reviews give me even more hope that it will be a good album  It's only a matter of time before I get my hands on this one.
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| DahliaRock Posts: 151  |
Talk to me in baby language! goo goo gaa gaa bad Leprous bad, good Bilateral good. who is a good boy? Congregation is a good boy, oh yes, it is a good boy.. wait, that's dog talk.. Were you trying to imply that this album is more complex and complicated than it seems to be?
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| Diverge Posts: 1334 |
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| Lethrokai Posts: 507  |
Yeah I'm with Diverge on this one. It's way too presumptuous to call a review pretentious just because it uses some big words. It tells you clearly about the band and the core sound of the album, as well as how the band's performance works overall. Perhaps it could have used some reference to more specific moments, just to give that more in-depth look... but other than that this review's pretty solid. As for the whole "relation between Coal and The Congregation" question... I'd say it would be unfair to call The Congregation merely Coal pt.2, because there's plenty it does to distinguish itself as a standalone album, both in core-sound and the smaller details. However I do feel that calling it an EVOLUTION of Coal would be fitting, as the atmosphere at its centre still seems largely adapted from Coal. A different album, certainly, but one that still holds on somewhat to its ancestry.
---- Sometimes you just need to roll the dice and look away.
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| Zap Guest Posts: 3517 |
Well, maybe I need to give it another spin. I definitely liked it, but I feel more inclined to listen to Coal instead of this again, so maybe that's where I got the impression it's more of a continuation. I do agree with both of you that this is a fine review though.
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| DarthSitthiander Posts: 72  |
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| DahliaRock Posts: 151 |
I would say "oh you newbz you know nothingz" but a lot of people are feeling the same stuff I felt when everybody on planet earth and starts above liked Porcupine Tree's FoaBP and despite being such a huge PT fan, I hated and despised it, used it as a shit tray to feed my pigs. I guess it's the streamlination (is that a word?) of the sounds that a band makes, especially when you are fully aware of the capabilities of that band, since they threw you from wall to wall on every release. If you take Bilateral and listen as if you're gazing in awe at the explosions on the sun only to be blinded for life, this is like getting whipped by a friend throwing plastic bands at you. The Muse-y overtaking of new sounds will bother you, it will feel like a betrayal to everything you know. Personally I like to clear all my expectations, my prior knowledge of a band's history and start anew when listening to a new release. (that's what I failed to do with PT as they are the band that formed my music knowledge and taste) First time I listened to this album, I hated it, and I actually feared that I would continue to. With Leprous, this has always been the case, and I think Coal was the hardest pill to swallow with the repetitions; this was hard because Coal, after many listens, stabbed a dagger to my heart that bleeds every time I listen to the album: beyond all the repetitions and 'Ah ah's there is an emotional depth that many bands of this era fail to capture, and it kinda became my new reference point for a while. This album's darkness grows on you in a very peculiar way. Since you don't get that many repeats and the lengths are rather shorter per song, you have to focus. For me, the anchor point was the drum work. It's as if with the new drummer, Leprous is possessed by the tribal soul that made Woodkid album possible. Follow that dark deep pounding to the trail of synths and orchestrations, layer the vocals, and the guitar work automatically settles into the whole equation. Where Coal was a wailing and mutiny to the darkness within, Congregation is more of a fall into a chasm of desperation.
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| Introspekrieg Totemic Lust Elite Posts: 2747  |
Written by Frombelow on 26.05.2015 at 11:12 It doesn't tell you anything? You know song-by-songs aren't allowed on this site right? Quote: I personally like the reviews that give a bit more background information on the album or even set a mood/expectation for your listening. I like them even more when reading them while listening, and this one definitely heightened the experience. Unfortunately, I feel that there was a bit of filler and lack of dynamics upon first listen, only worsened by the early release of two of the best tracks, just too safe. After a few more spins, I am starting to really enjoy it (I'm a sucker for great vocalists).  R'Vannith
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| toxx Supreme being Posts: 390  |
Man, this album is rock solid imo. Well composed, well produced, and tight as hell! The vocals on this one is one of the best aspects of the album.
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| Risto Wandering Midget Posts: 1115  |
Written by Diverge on 26.05.2015 at 18:17 This is exactly what is wrong here. Much of it is an analysis of current Leprous in general, not a review of The Congregation. Ok, he lets us know the band is still inspired and they can handle their instruments, but other than that it's hard to grasp what the album really sounds like.
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| musicalkaratekid Posts: 1506 |
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by Risto on 27.05.2015 at 15:31 A famous musician once said "writing about music is like dancing about architecture." It is Always impossible to grasp what an album really sounds like without actually hearing the said album.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Risto Wandering Midget Posts: 1115 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 27.05.2015 at 15:43 Hello, Mr. Obvious  I'll rephrase: album reviews attempt to give general guidelines. This just isn't R'Vannith's finest moment at it.
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| Diverge Posts: 1334 |
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| Nihil Aeternum Posts: 127 |
Written by Lethrokai on 26.05.2015 at 19:09 I did not call the review pretentious because it uses some big words but it uses big words that are combined in a way that gives little actual meaning. Example: "Further efforts in another record only affirm an admirable quality of the outfit; that they are innately immune from that which would kill inspiration." Can anybody please explain this sentence to me? To me, it has the same actual meaning as a love poem or a song by Judas Priest. Another example: "... Leprous ... seem to run on continual inspiration with ideas in progressive metal that are never out of reach or beyond their means." This means that they can not only write inspired music but also play this music on their instruments, right? This is not really a deeper insight. To my knowledge, every metal band can play their own music ... some keep it simple, however. Please correct me if I'm wrong here. I completely agree with Marcel when he says that writing about music is as difficult as dancing about architecture. I can't write about music except "wow, great, fantastic album" and this is why I don't write reviews. But the many fantastic reviews on MS prove that there are people who can do it. I want to encourage everybody and especially R'Vannith to write more good reviews, but I would appreciate more actual meaning and less vain poetry in the next review.
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| Diverge Posts: 1334 |
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
People who think this review is pretentious learly are crap at comprehensive reading of the English language.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Nihil Aeternum Posts: 127 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 28.05.2015 at 03:30 People who are MS staff members should not write such unfair comments. Unlike you I didn't attack anybody below the belt.
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| Nihil Aeternum Posts: 127 |
Written by Diverge on 28.05.2015 at 01:40 "Leprous always seem to find inspiration and can always turn these new ideas into music." Thank you for your translation. About 75% less words, same information.
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2570  |
Read the review the second time after reading the whole discussion, and here a few thoughts of mine on the review and the controversy:
So it made me think about the review styles. I prefer to be as specific in my reviews as possible, describing actual riffs and giving examples of songs when make statements about an album's different aspects or moods. Some people prefer not to do that... So now I am thinking whether my approach is actually better: is it possible to describe music in a way that the reader gets exactly what I am trying to some? Maybe R'Vannith's creative approach will have the same success rate of conveying the message as my direct approach...
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| Lethrokai Posts: 507 |
Written by K✞ulu on 29.05.2015 at 09:01 Heh, guess that's how it goes then. People will have different preferences towards different styles. Much like the endless debate of music preference, talk about which review style is better revoles around an endless and subjective debate.
---- Sometimes you just need to roll the dice and look away.
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| R'Vannith ghedengi Elite Posts: 3099  |
Written by Nihil Aeternum on 27.05.2015 at 18:20 I understand your intentions, and the constructive criticism posted here is certainly useful to me. Thank you for your input.
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| Nihil Aeternum Posts: 127 |
Written by R'Vannith on 31.05.2015 at 06:56 Thank you, R'Vannith, for your reply and also thanks to the other people for their constructive and informative posts above. I know that it is always hard to be criticized for something for which you have worked hard and for which you would think that it's good. But reviewers criticize bands, they are criticized here for their reviews by jerks like me and I am criticized by others for my criticism. People have different opinions and as long as everybody is constructive, the discussion is a converging "upward spiral" and we can learn from conflicting opinions. I do not think that such "endless subjective debates" are useless, quite the contrary. My very first comment, just saying that this review is "pretentious blah" was not constructive because I didn't justify this statement. I apologize for that and I'm glad that you found my later posts useful. 
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| strade Posts: 677  |
I've never been able to get into this band, but this album is currently blowing me away. I'll be sure to revisit their previous work soon...
---- My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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