Leprous
The Congregation

My expectations were very high for this album, as on one hand, I was sure I was dealing with one of the most remarkable emerging bands in their field, and on the other hand, I was aware that every band, sooner or later, risks making a misstep. But, fortunately, that moment has not yet arrived for Leprous.

When I first heard the single The Price, I fell madly in love with it: a perfect combination of simplicity and complexity (a concept applicable to the entire album, if you will) heavy just right, catchy, and with irresistible rhythms. Even when Rewind, a second track from The Congregation, was released, my impression was positive: from the unsettling intro to the devastating outro, through the memorable bass and drum performance... another excellent track!

So, when I listened to the entire album for the first time, I knew it probably had other surprises in store for my ears. But I couldn't imagine how much this assumption would be confirmed by the work itself. Besides the tracks already mentioned, we have Third Law, with its absurd drum patterns and an austere performance by everyone. Perhaps the coldest track on the album, but of remarkable technical caliber! Following are The Flood and Triumphant, which are simply two masterpieces, one following the other. The first is a sort of power ballad sick to the core, with innovative sounds by the band's standards, a notable vocal performance, and memorable atmospheres, seasoned with the usual hallucinatory rhythms. The second is a sort of masterful, epic, and energetic march containing some of the most interesting grooves in their entire discography and a chorus you won't be able to get out of your head ever again. As already in The Price, some arrangement concepts that had already been sketched in tracks like The Valley from the previous Coal are revisited. Leprous, evidently realizing how powerful such an approach was, decided to develop its potential in various tracks of this The Congregation, sometimes pushing it to the extreme. With Within My Fence, the first half of the album closes on a positive note, albeit not perfect, as it is perhaps one of the less convincing songs of the album, despite the great performance of the new drummer.

The second part of the album contains tracks generally more complex and extended, with four consecutive tracks not shorter than six and a half minutes, while the last track returns to the standard four minutes. Red is a unique journey into the sound of Leprous, made up of grooves impossible to follow and unconventional solutions of all kinds. Its instrumental section is simply too much for me to articulate in words. Slave immediately serves us an intro of absurd tragedy: the track is the darkest of the album and features one of the few (just a couple in total) growl sections in the entire album, where Einar Solberg experiments with a new vocal technique that brings him even closer to the timbre of his "mentor" Ihsahn. The chorus of the track instantly gets stuck in your head, and the synergy established between innumerable-stringed guitars and typically sick keyboards creates an atmosphere worthy of the most unhealthy horror film, yet unsuitable for it: it would eclipse it ruinously and without redemption. Moon feeds on an intriguing electric piano line supported by some mellotron and a solid rhythmic section in its irregularity. It probably suffers from excessive duration concerning the evolution of the piece itself, which is quite contained, but it remains a track you'll have a hard time detaching from. The extremely distorted guitars of the last minutes will make you ponder. Down marks one of the band's highlights, overall. The chorus is incredibly catchy, so much so that you'll already feel the urge to hum it before the track is even finished. A remarkable groove supports the track, and the drum performance proves to be at an all-time high, with some fills that will wear out your rewind button. The track ends with the lovely Lower, full of pathos, with a keyboard introduction soon devastated by a powerful yet heart-wrenching chorus. The moving arrangement of the second verse will soon give way to an outro made of extremely emotional vocal intertwinings, which will close the album. The special edition also contains the bonus track Pixel, which, however, is nothing special, frankly.

In short, The Congregation can certainly be mentioned as one of the best releases of this year, and I think it will be difficult once again for anyone to dethrone Leprous with such ease. The Norwegians return with an album perhaps less dark than previous ones (despite the cover suggesting otherwise), very lively and fresh, with a breathtaking performance from all members and ideas that truly leave room only for some astounded curses.

9/10

(five stars, considering its position in my annual top list)