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A potentially great album hindered with uninteresting filler.-
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| Leprous: Bilateral |
Progressive Metal
InsideOut Music
August 23rd, 2011
- Bilateral - 4:00
- Forced Entry - 10:20
- Restless - 3:30
- Thorn - 5:48
- Mb. Indifferentia - 6:33
- Waste of Air - 5:32
- Mediocrity Wins - 6:097
- Cryptogenic Desires - 2:45
- Acquired Taste - 5:13
- Painful Detour - 8:18
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| Review Information |
Release length: 58:11
Review posted on September 1st, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 7/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Aeolia (2006) • Tall Poppy Syndrome (2009) • Bilateral (2011)
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| EP(s): |
Silent Waters (2004)
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| Review |
The Progressive Metal act Leprous hails from Norway, and had actually formed back in 2001. Over the years the group issued an EP and two full-length efforts, with Tall Poppy Syndrome, their last release, really finding a large audience, yet seeing a good amount of mixed reviews towards it. With their debut being self-released, and their second issued through Sensory Records, the band eventually found a new home with InsideOut Music to issue their third full-length effort, Bilateral. Given the shift to this more Progressive-oriented label, has the band overcome their previous recording, or at the least found a suiting home for their sound?
Between the airy, atmospheric Progressive Rock ideas that pop up through the release against a heavier Progressive Metal attitude throughout the release, and the rare more aggressive sound on some tracks, it's clear that Leprous has retained much of their previous sound, but has taken to it with a fine toothed comb to make their material sound a little more fluid and consistant. The production quality definitely reflects more of the Progressive Rock concept, being much cleaner compared to the thicker, more distorted common Metal interpretations of the style. The guitars sound good and are just a little deeper to compliment the lighter clean singing, sometimes feeling like a lighter and cleaner Symphony X. The bass is pretty discernable in the mix, but not to the point where it really makes of an impact to the sound unless the music goes into a much slower pace, such as the more "sinister" sounding "Thorn." The drums are pretty good too though, having some pretty solid bass kicks that sound natural, some thick snares that really shine, but the cymbols could have been a bit louder in the mix, though still sound ok depending on the song. Pretty much every track on here sounds like the band put a lot of effort into it, and regardless how the clean audio sounds, there's no denying that Leprous really seems to be trying here.
And for many songs, the hard work pays off. "Bilateral" kicks the album off nicely with a strong emotional atmosphere and performance, especially in the vocals with the way the layers work and create a haunting vibe here and there while, at other points in the song like the build up to the chorus, as well as during, the song can take more of an uplifting sound and vocal performance that works well with the emotional ride of the main verses, transitioned well so that it builds up consistantly and flows smoothly from one point to the next despite the sudden shifts in speed that may occur. But while this track sets the album up nicely, it's actually "Forced Entry" that really steals the show and becomes the song to beat throughout the track. The song has a good amount of energy behind it, and a great deal of hooks that set up a more traditional Progressive atmosphere. There are times where the song builds up into a heavier Metal sound and can even go into some Meshuggah-like grooves that could be argued as breakdowns, and even some screaming vocals that set up an Industrial-less Strapping Young Lad sound. The song shifts around in tempo, music, even atmosphere quite a lot, really utilizing the Progressive music style ideas to their full effect, but all the while transitioning between them fluidly. The chorus to this song, and some of the passages really give off a stirring performance one may expect to hear on an off-Broadway musical, and when everything comes together it just makes for a jaw-dropping experience of catchy, heavy, and exhillerating music that showcases the talent and devotion that Leprous possesses.
Out of the starting gate, there's also the shorter "Restless", which is a great song that merges both the Rock and Metal attitudes nicely with some really heavy atmosphere, but at times you can't help but wish the song would stick to that slower atmospheric start and not build, keeping more with the lighter, soothing clean singing. This is really where the album start to show some faults. The shorter tracks on here really seem to suffer from these time restraints, and the band seems to hurry along with the song and not really take the time to build up properly, which, had this song been the more traditional for this release length of at least five minutes, the build up from the soothing start to more energetic finish would have felt more natural and could be accepted easier. "Crytopgenic Desires" is the shortest song on the release, and it shows this very well as the song just sounds like they tried to cram a good amount of the band's aggressive side into a small window of time, not allowing for good transitions, and leaving the song to just feel like it's placed there for no other reason but to really add a few minutes to the album. The song doesn't sound too generic, but at the same time it doesn't really offer anything new to the mix either, just using that more abrasive sound the band introduced earlier and hammering away with it but without a real sense of purpose.
Bilateral does have it's mix of songs that just are not that great. "Thorn" is one of them, as the song is just not that interesting and doesn't really feel like it goes anywhere. It's one of the better tracks you could call filler on here though, especially when you compare it to the song "Waste of Air" which really wants to just hammer away with some more aggressive music. But, again, it just goes nowhere, and the chugging Progressive elements that appear here and there actually really become annoying, feeling as if you're in some kind of audio strobe light. "Cryptogenic Desires" also falls into this mostly due to what was already mentioned and not worth getting back into. Of course, all of these tracks just pad the album out to the more enjoyable "Painful Detour", as well as the previous track "Acquired Taste" which is not a bad song and kind of helps ease you back into some solid music. "Painful Detour" once again finds the band utilizing a longer song length to their advantage, and really has that airy atmosphere to some of the bridges, but in turn they give off a dark and sleek atmosphere coupled with a more emotional performance to the chorus similar to the ones found on "Forced Entry". The track has plenty of longer bridges here that do seem to extend the song's life, but they are built up as the song goes through so it's not the same thing over and over. The track's general slower pace also works to the advantage of making these not feel drawn out, at least on purpose, and just adds to that already present atmosphere the song has had since it began. While this track is in no way near the quality of "Forced Entry", or even "Bilateral", it makes for a good closing track that at least kind of makes dealing with the not so great tracks worth it to some degree.
Overall, the performance by Leprous on this album is not bad, but the album varies greatly between quality and quantity. While Bilateral pushes over fifty eight minutes of music, there's really not that many tracks that stand out past the first three songs on the release. Sure the two closing songs are good and there's a few between them, but overall many songs do a good job at transitioning and/or building up, there are times where the music is uninteresting, squeezed together for a shorter song, or just builds up to nowhere if such a build up exists. Bilateral ends up having some material that is moving and really pulls you into the group's rather dark world that can sometimes be uplifting with lighter passages, airy atmospheres and a stronger Progressive Rock foundation than a Metal one, and those tracks are well worth taking the time to experience. Other then that, the album just doesn't really maintain that kind of gripping atmosphere, or have enough solid, enjoyable songs to keep the listener content for the full fifty eight plus minutes.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
InsideOut Music.
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