I saw Leprous today for the second time. The first time was in 2017, which also made me a proper fan, before that I had listened some songs from Bilateral.
Full disclosure: I'm an old head when it come to Leprous.
When the singles for Pitfalls dropped, I didn't really like any of them back then and consequently didn't even listen to the album, or anything that came after it. But since they were coming to my hometown, I decided to give those two albums a chance. In brief, Pitfalls is alright, but short on highlights. Aphelion is better, but not as good as the first four albums. However, I can always respect bands who dare to change their style despite possible fan backlash, and those albums definitely still have a lot of heart.
Openers were Kalandra and Monuments. I had never listened to either band before, but I did check some of their songs in advance. Kalandra was surprising opener, since they play sort of post rock/folk pop thing, kind of hard to pin down. Very atmospheric and melodic. I think they share quite a bit with Leprous in their sense of melody and melancholy, so in a way they were a good opener. Didn't care that much about them based on what I listened before the show, but they were really good. The vocalist has a really lovely voice.
Monuments, well... I like metalcore, but I'm very picky about it, and tend to like older stuff. Monuments was good, but I don't know... it felt to me that most songs had the same drum groove and about the same tempo, they could have mixed it up more. Also they have recently changed vocalists and I think I like the previous guy better. The new singer has excellent growls and screams, but his clean vocals are bit too 'pretty' for my liking. I might like some of their older stuff, so I'm not writing them out completely.
Leprous was very good, probably not quite as good as when I saw them the last time, but that's mostly down to the setlist. The setlist had some surprises definitely, but the older songs were pretty much what you'd expect. However, the setlist had an excellent flow, having darker and slower songs towards the beginning, then moving to more uptempo and uplifting (if you can call Leprous that, lol) with From the Flame and Alleviate, and then going darker and heavier towards the end with Slave (always a pleasure, they close the set last time I saw them with it and it was incredible) and Below, which while still being one of my least favourite songs of theirs, was better live. The main set closed with Nighttime Disguise, which was a great choice, because it's very energetic and varied song. But the encore was probably the best part of the show. THE SKY IS RED. WHAT AN ABSOLUTE MONSTER OF A SONG. Especially the long crescendo in the end, it's just gargantuan. So yeah, both times the last two songs were probably the best part, last time it was Forced Entry and Slave.
One interesting thing about the set was that the audience could decide one of the songs. Einar gave us four songs to decide from and the winner was decided by the show of hands. The songs were Third Law, Illuminate, Observe the Train and Acquired Taste. AT is one of my favourite songs from Bilateral so I naturally went for that one and a lot of people agreed. Einar actually ordered new count of votes because the 'old' fans were screaming so loud and throwing two hands up.
However, Illuminate was declared the winner.
Biggest bummer was not having any songs from Bilateral in the setlist. I recently called Bilateral my favourite progressive metal album of all time. The first six songs are basically flawless. Painful Detour is bit weak album closer, however. Oh, and nothing from Tall Poppy Syndrome either, but that was not surprising.
Full setlist:
Have You Ever?
The Price
I Lose Hope
The Cloak
On Hold
Castaway Angels
From the Flame
Alleviate
Illuminate
Out of Here
Slave
Below
Nighttime Disguise
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The Sky Is Red
Topic: Leprous - v. The Longer the Pitfalls (Read 96722 times)
