Leprous - v. The Longer the Pitfalls

[NoseofNicko]

What an absolutely fantastic album.

[MinistroRaven]

Yup, that's an AOTY contender for sure. This band might well be my favourite band at this point.

 

[Buddyhunter1]

Glad you all are liking it!

[Polarbear]

Yup, that's an AOTY contender for sure. This band might well be my favourite band at this point.

Definitely a Prog album of the year contender for me! Helloween might take AOTY for me.

Incredible album for sure! Nighttime Disguise, On Hold and Castaway Angels are faves so far!

[PixelDream]

Finally having the patience and rest to give this a good listen instead of just having it ‘on’. Great stuff! Every track has something I like. In ‘All The Moments’ it’s the sparse piano and cello, in Silhouette it’s the damn groove.

[MinistroRaven]

My youngest son was singing running low while in the shower, I am a proud parent.

[GasparXR]

My youngest son was singing running low while in the shower, I am a proud parent.

Maybe check your water tank?

[twosuitsluke]

As much as I love Leprous, and their whole discography, this album has yet to wow me yet. I like the three singles, but none of them hooked me like singles from the previous two albums did. I have no doubt this will grow on me but I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed. Maybe my expectations were too high?

[MinistroRaven]

My youngest son was singing running low while in the shower, I am a proud parent.

Maybe check your water tank?

 

[me7]

As much as I love Leprous, and their whole discography, this album has yet to wow me yet. I like the three singles, but none of them hooked me like singles from the previous two albums did. I have no doubt this will grow on me but I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed. Maybe my expectations were too high?

I'm in a similar spot right now

[Pettor]

Damn, On Hold is a great track!

[nick_z]

On my second listen, so it's still very early. I have to say, I was a bit underwhelmed after the first.

The singles stood out, which is not too surprising and makes me think it's partly a matter of becoming familiar with the material - I hadn't listened to the pre-release songs a lot, but enough to get to know them.

Still, I feel like the songs blend a little. Pitfalls had a certain mood throughout, but I felt the individual tracks stood more on their own.

What worries me is Einar - he's starting to be a bit much for my taste. He's incredibly talented, but his soft-falsetto verses and the big climax choruses with the ooohs and aaahhhs  are becoming somewhat predictable and repetitive. Each taken on its own is quite impressive, but I'm having some trouble with a full album of those.

Anyway, there's some great stuff in here. I will certainly spend more time with it. 

[Pettor]

What worries me is Einar - he's starting to be a bit much for my taste. He's incredibly talented, but his soft-falsetto verses and the big climax choruses with the ooohs and aaahhhs  are becoming somewhat predictable and repetitive. Each taken on its own is quite impressive, but I'm having some trouble with a full album of those.

Anyway, there's some great stuff in here. I will certainly spend more time with it.

I think this is spot on from how I feel about Pitfalls and this album actually. Every song follow the same colors and sound. If you like that I guess it's gonna be a feast to listen to this but for me I get a bit fatigued, specially on the constant falsetto. But then there's songs like On Hold, Alleviate, Distans Bells where the sound shines. However when I hear Bilateral it's evident how full of surprises that era was compared to this.

[PixelDream]

I do agree somewhat. In some ways, he's grown a lot as a vocalist. But I do feel he's overdoing it with the falsetto and the almost constant voice breaks.

[Buddyhunter1]

There's also his "Grover yells" as I like to call them that I think worked great with the band's old sound (end of Forced Entry, for example) but sound downright silly with the more stripped back, serious instrumentation. He sounds like fucking Homsar on the Running Low verses.

[goo-goo]

On my second listen, so it's still very early. I have to say, I was a bit underwhelmed after the first.

The singles stood out, which is not too surprising and makes me think it's partly a matter of becoming familiar with the material - I hadn't listened to the pre-release songs a lot, but enough to get to know them.

Still, I feel like the songs blend a little. Pitfalls had a certain mood throughout, but I felt the individual tracks stood more on their own.

What worries me is Einar - he's starting to be a bit much for my taste. He's incredibly talented, but his soft-falsetto verses and the big climax choruses with the ooohs and aaahhhs  are becoming somewhat predictable and repetitive. Each taken on its own is quite impressive, but I'm having some trouble with a full album of those.

Anyway, there's some great stuff in here. I will certainly spend more time with it.

My thoughts exactly. I think Pitfalls is the better album vs Alphelion. Massively underwhelmed by Alphelion. Tesseract's Portals on the other hand 

[Pettor]

After several listens I think sadly this won't be an album that I will play that much from start to finish. On Hold is still one of my favourite songs this year. I realized the biggest problem is Einar's constant falsetto as we talked about. But also that most songs kind of work the same with the slow vibe building up to the high vocals and explosion in the end. It's like Alleviate is the template for most songs.

Everytime my kiddo goes to sleep (2 years old) I need to sit with her for 30 minutes or so and I will usually listen to some album. Yesterday I took Bilateral, the best album from the Leprous catalogue for me. Ofc a band can change sound and kudos to Leprous for finding something very unique to them. Bilateral however never drains me with it's sound the same way that Aphelion does. Einar sings a lot more in the lower register (or without falsetto maybe) just makes the overall experience easier to digest. Bilateral is also such a varied album compared to the never ones.

[twosuitsluke]

I'm sad to say that I feel this is the first album of theirs that has really underwhelmed me. I loved Pitfalls and the new direction it took, but am so far finding this album quite forgettable.

I find it really strange that I have more desire to listen to the new Between the Buried and Me over Aphelion.

I'm still holding out hope it will hit me at some point in the future, but currently it won't even crack my top 10 of the year.

[Evermind]

After a few listens, I constantly return to Out of Here, On Hold, Castaway Angels and (sometimes) Nighttime Disguise. I feel like other tracks aren't that strong.

[Elite]

For me the weakest tracks are The Silent Revelation and On Hold

[Crow]

given this a few spins so far and idk quite how i feel about it but i'll at least be picking it up. the guitars are way too djenty now (which was like, THE thing they were good at avoiding on their metal albums) but the compositions work a lot more for me than pitfalls. on hold is probably their best song since the congregation

[IDontNotDoThings]

Has anyone here heard the physical-exclusive bonus track A Prophecy To Trust? I know it's only been a week but it's proving to be quite hard to find online at the moment.

[Elite]

Which is why you should buy the physical version if you really want to hear it

It’s an alright track that would have fit well on the album, but it’s not their best thing ever. The live version of Acquired Taste on the other hand is absolutely fantastic. Of course I’ve heard this song played live countless times, but this might be one of the best versions.


And regarding On Hold, I see a lot of praise for this song, but it doesn’t grab me at all yet. I enjoy almost all other tracks more. It might need some more time.

[Fritzinger]

I just wanted to say that I already consider Aphelion a masterpiece. Yes, a masterpiece, and I am not exaggerating. I am seriously in awe of this album.


Every single song is a little piece of art on its own, but still the album works as a whole, probably because of the constant dark atmosphere and the prominent string arrangements throughout the whole album. I was able to listen to it before the release and am now listening to it for the first time on vinyl. As usual, it works differently on this medium and I'm still finding details I hadn't noticed before. It's been a while that someone released an album that I come back to this often over the course of six weeks or so. I just can't stop listening to every single song. From the dramatic opener with its catchy chorus and querulous cello solo, Out Of Here and Have You Ever? with subtle electronic influences and opulent choruses, the D&B influences and furious Silhouette, The Shadow Side featuring the only (!) solo of the album, a tasty guitar feature by Robin Ognedal, up to the demonic finale in Nighttime Disguise (which leaves no doubt in me that Solberg is able to open the gates of hell with his voice) - every day I have a different favorite track.

Without a single doubt my album of the year as I can't imagine anything shaking me up like this album in the coming months. And I seriously don't understand why it isn't being hyped up and hailed as what it is: a brilliant piece of music.

By the way, I think the band's secret weapon and my personal "secret star" of Aphelion is guitarist Robin Ognedal. He's a consequent Stratocaster player and his tasteful playing in higher frequencies is in perfect contrast with Tor's dark, djenty riffs (don't start telling me these riffs are no longer present on Leprous's new albums, because they are). It's the inclusion of this second guitarist that makes the arrangements of the last three albums so extraordinary.

[Elite]

The Shadow Side featuring the only (!) solo of the album,

If you're not considering any solo cello passages, Leprous have had a grand total of 2 (guitar) solos on their albums since Bilateral (2011), so this is hardly surprising (responding to the exclamation mark, which signifies that you find it at least curious enough to mention).

[PixelDream]

I def agree on the stratocaster playing a vital role in the band. Gives the otherwise modern sound some vintage flair.

[MinistroRaven]

Has anyone here heard the physical-exclusive bonus track A Prophecy To Trust? I know it's only been a week but it's proving to be quite hard to find online at the moment.

Here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb-PfWGnIws

[IDontNotDoThings]

Has anyone here heard the physical-exclusive bonus track A Prophecy To Trust? I know it's only been a week but it's proving to be quite hard to find online at the moment.

Here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb-PfWGnIws

Thank you

[Mebert78]

My copy finally arrived a few days ago and I can't stop listening. Leprous are one of the consistently incredible prog rock bands in recent years along with The Neal Morse Band, in my opinion. In short, I'm feelin' Aphelion!

[Mebert78]

"All the Moments" might be the best Leprous song ever. What an amazing tune. And the way they bring the song down to almost nothing and almost total silence in the middle and then build it back up for the epic ending is just breathtaking.

[MinistroRaven]

AOTY

[GasparXR]

So far I've only listened twice, but so far it feels like easily their best album, probably tied with Pitfalls (Distant Bells is still one of my favourite songs ever to this day).

The very beginning of All the Moments is not a vibe I ever expected Leprous to dive into. Like the Leprous-y take on blues-inspired classic rock or something. 

[PixelDream]

I thought Pitfalls was probably their best album yet, but Aphelion is just something else. I've been listening to it pretty much non-stop and it absolutely rules.

Both albums are great in my book. Pitfalls is in general more introspective and subdued, while Aphelion has just a little bit more energy and liveliness to it.

I was worried when they got softer with Malina - some great tracks there but ultimately I thought it lacked focus. On Pitfalls and Aphelion I feel Leprous have really opened up their sound in so many ways. And while the metal is toned down quite a bit, the grooves are so strong on a lot of these tracks. And the sound.. they should keep whoever's behind the soundboard. I just love that natural, punchy production.

[Lethean]

I like Aphelion is a great album.  I'm still getting to know it and it's still growing on me; I like it more each time I hear it. 

[GasparXR]

I thought Pitfalls was probably their best album yet, but Aphelion is just something else. I've been listening to it pretty much non-stop and it absolutely rules.

Both albums are great in my book. Pitfalls is in general more introspective and subdued, while Aphelion has just a little bit more energy and liveliness to it.

I was worried when they got softer with Malina - some great tracks there but ultimately I thought it lacked focus. On Pitfalls and Aphelion I feel Leprous have really opened up their sound in so many ways. And while the metal is toned down quite a bit, the grooves are so strong on a lot of these tracks. And the sound.. they should keep whoever's behind the soundboard. I just love that natural, punchy production.

There's this strange "heaviness" to the sound, but without sounding like a metal band necessarily. The dynamics are great too; the difference between the quiet sections and heavy sections is enormous, and makes all he songs that much more powerful. That goes for both Pitfalls and Aphelion, but Aphelion just sounds slightly better from a production standpoint I think.