Leprous - Coal
For their new album Leprous have dedicated themselves to the studio with a purpose. It's a guarantee that they can create something fresh as they move into artistic routes unexplored and Coal is no exception to this in its emphasis on a particular mood. Here they seem cool, calm and collected as they attempt to project a particular atmosphere into their music. They go about this darker melancholic direction with a certain uncharacteristic seriousness. Mind you the result still sounds like a Leprous album but it isn't another Bilateral which was of a very eclectic nature.
What we have with Coal is polished and cohesive and every aspect is distinctly expressed. This time around the presence of the rhythm section is more noticeable and there is less whimsical meandering in the guitars which were so prominent on previous records. The guitars often complacently and tightly align themselves with drums and bass and only fleetingly divert from the flow of things. As a result emergent leads are infrequent and fleeting in their rhythmic guise which gives the album a lighter feel.
Throughout the album you'll notice Solberg's voice as clearly as a canary in a coal mine; the vocals providing a focus as they carry a moody timbre. That same avant-garde theatricality is as distinctive as ever and fuels the fires of tracks like the piano initiated "Chronic" which becomes engulfed by the vocals and the well placed symphonic backdrop.
The chilling presence of the synths and electronic air in the percussively constant and bass plucked depths of "The Valley" give a new environment for vocal expression and many tracks operate in this way; each track allows for distinct variation of the same mood.
That's not to say Coal is merely an exhibition of Solberg's range or that of the backing vocal additions. The record is varied in other aspects despite its fixed aims at evoking a particularly melancholic vibe and moves in and out of that dominant mood. Andersen's drumming in particular is continually inventive and his guidance of the unique rhythms of each track are the main points of contrast with many memorable and distinctive shifts. The opening track "Foe" has a constant beat which punches easily through the mix before a drawn out passage of respite in which all percussion ceases and concludes in a harmonious vocal warbling.
Despite the variance among tracks the mood is maintained as Coal is focused, more so than previous records as it as an attempt at something more specific. An album which is both dynamic and manages to evoke a particular feeling is no easy ambition and Leprous deliver in spades.
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 9
Originality: 9
Production: 9
copas from http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=11854
Tracklist:
01. Foe
02. Chronic
03. Coal
04. The Cloak
05. The Valley
06. Salt
07. Echo
08. Contaminate Me
09. Bury [mediabook bonus]
10. Foe [remix] [mediabook bonus]
TKP
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