Leprous - Pitfalls

[introclaus]

Wow first single is absolutely amazing. Been listening to it non stop the last three hours since picking it up at iTunes.

https://youtu.be/4nPwBSaJmgI

[Scott B]

Absolutely floored by this.

[introclaus]

Absolutely floored by this.

With this, Port Noir, Mother of Millions and Soen the prog scene 2019 is better than ever.

[Mardoch]

I think it's good but...flat? It doesn't feel like there's much interesting motion and it relies almost entirely on Einar's voice for any impact. I'll still buy the album by default, but I'm hoping there are more interesting tunes on it.

[Packgrog]

I've seen some people complaining about this. This actually is more interesting to me than their last couple of releases have been. They seem to be pushing beyond the rut they seemed to have gotten themselves into. And the vocal delivery here is superb. Restrained when needed, then a knockout when full bore. Definitely raised my eyebrows in a couple of points. I'm interested again...

[Norén]

Great song but somehow it feels like I have heard it before.
Actually the new Rendezvous point grabs me more.
But looking forward to hear the full album of course.

[introclaus]

The album is absolutely magnificent!!! All songs are amazing!

However, they are going to loose most of their “metal only” fan base with this one - 50-60% of the album has little to no metal in it and while its wonderfully crafted
I can understand those that just can’t hang with
It.

But man, this album is just as amazing as I had hoped it would be.

C.

[Mardoch]

The album is absolutely magnificent!!! All songs are amazing!

However, they are going to loose most of their “metal only” fan base with this one - 50-60% of the album has little to no metal in it and while its wonderfully crafted
I can understand those that just can’t hang with
It.

But man, this album is just as amazing as I had hoped it would be.

C.

50-60% seems generous on the metal amount, tbh. It's basically a dark pop album. It's not bad, but it's not what I'm after. I'll probably not listen to it again.

[MitchG]

Some of this album sounds like later-era A-Ha gone prog. And I'm ok with that.....really liking this album a lot.

[introclaus]

50-60% seems generous on the metal amount, tbh. It's basically a dark pop album. It's not bad, but it's not what I'm after. I'll probably not listen to it again.

I don't know, some of the songs have retained the metal edge in there ... but yes, it's definitely leaning towards dark pop (Muse, Radiohead, or even A-Ha like Mitch said) more than their original proggy black metal sound.

[Norén]

For me Leprous peaked with Bilateral and Coal. The congregation and Malina did more or less the same but had less interesting songs. But now they really tried something new and YES, it works for me! Love this new direction. Like it more for every listen. Will for sure end up on my top 10 of the year.

[Man Of Much Metal]

Absolutely bowled over by this album. If I'm completely and utterly honest, Leprous are one of those bands that I admire and enjoy, but don't full-on love. 'Coal' was brilliant and I really liked 'Malina' but I've never held them in the same regard as others within prog. Not to say that they aren't stellar musicians and very unique.

But 'Pitfalls' is a different proposition. It is the album that brings me 100% under the Leprous spell. I love the fact that it is really daring, brave and fragile; I can relate to much of the lyrical content too and that makes the experience even more powerful. And I don't mind the fact that there's much less 'metal' within their sound here; when you create this kind of music, it'll be powerful and heavy without distorted guitars. This is the proof!

Brilliant stuff.

As always, here's my full review: https://manofmuchmetal.com/2019/10/28/l ... um-review/