Leprous
Melodies of Atonement

A name that is an indisputable guarantee of quality and above all of artistic genius. By now, when I hear the name Leprous, I already know it will be a sensational, unpredictable album with disarming creativity.

Even when you see the cover, you are completely taken aback, right there you see they are absurd geniuses: on a black background, diagonally almost dividing the screen in two, you find a strange object halfway between a chalice, a stylized broom, and a hunting horn. It is the triumph of hermeticism, of the mysterious but also of the chaotic; indeed, the band name and album title are broken into disordered syllables and scattered over that intriguing black carpet. I haven't seen anything so hermetic since "Paramount" by Sieges Even, with that kind of floating metallic ice block in the sea. One should never judge an album (yes, it applies to albums too, not just books) by its cover, but just the sight of it gives us a significant clue: it will be an unpredictable and mysterious album.

The fundamental characteristic of the album, the one that immediately stands out, is essentially one: the hardening of the sound, or rather the return of heavier riffs in the band's sound fabric, we rediscover part of those sharp riffs that the band had discarded starting from "Malina". However, it is absolutely not a return to the peculiar prog-metal of the first 4 albums; certainly a handful of metallic sobs distributed here and there will not make one scream heavy metal (you know I am very cautious in genre attribution); it is indeed metallic splinters, tangible but in no way wanting to impose or dictate terms. Truth be told, the melodies remain overall quite catchy and appealing, even if we're certainly not close to the quasi-pop of "Pitfalls". Only the choruses explode with moderation, arriving with modest impetus after much more delicate verses where vocalist Einar Solberg continues to adopt a more or less whispered style; a delicacy that seems to be a remnant of the previous "Aphelion" but is manifested here less markedly. The only chorus that revisits metal properly is that of "Like a Sunken Ship", there we can air guitar well mimicking power chords and a good headbanging emerges.

It remains undoubtedly true that "Melodies of Atonement" is a solid confirmation of the band's eclecticism and the unpredictability of solutions that make the band highly lovable. Each track holds a surprise and differs from each other. It's impossible to remain indifferent to the synth and bass jumps in "Silently Walking Alone", the frenetic weeping of guitars in "Atonement", the delicate glimmers of "My Specter", the electronic hisses of "I Hear the Sirens", or the most twisted electronics of "Self-Satisfied Lullaby", as well as the subdued funk of "Limbo".

Many will have surely looked for the hair in the egg; for instance, I have heard some complaints about Einar's voice becoming too whining and sniveling, or about the tendency towards the forced repetition of some themes, but I personally do not share them and they don't concern me; for me, Leprous continues to be a guarantee, and "Melodies of Atonement" will most likely earn a place in the Champions League zone in the end-of-year final rankings.