THIS WEEK I’M LISTENING TO...LEPROUS – Melodies Of Atonement (InsideOut)

It was legendary Hollywood movie mogul San Goldwyn who once claimed he wanted a film that started with an earthquake and built up to a climax, but in effect that’s exactly what Leprous have done with ‘Melodies Of Atonement’. The Norwegians’ eighth album opens with ‘Silently Walking Alone’, a stunning, eye-catching track based around a plaintive verse and a punch-in-the-face chorus which is still done and dusted in just four minutes. As an attention-grabber it does take some beating.

photo by Grzegorz Golebiowski

On ‘Melodies...’ the band have come up with a wonderful contradiction – it’s no less complex than its predecessors, yet it’s possibly more accessible for people encountering Leprous for the first time. In the biog, frontman Einar Solberg describes it as “more straight to the point... It’s kind of heavier in its own way.” Then, concerned that his comment might mislead people adds: “I think people might get the wrong impression if I just say it’s heavy. It’s heavy when it needs to be!” And that approach works beautifully. Shorn of the orchestration of previous outings it’s an album that focuses on the talents of the five musicians – Solberg himself on vocals and keyboards, guitarists Tor Oddmund Suhrke aand Robin Ognedal, bassist Simen Børven and drummer Baard Kolstad – and highlights the light and shade that constitutes the band’s material. But, as ever, things are never quite what you expect – Leprous can deliver curveballs as easy as a postman delivers letters, and certainly in the middle order the exciting yet off-kilter ‘Limbo’ and the almost lounge lizard ‘Faceless’ (which probably is about as commercially acceptable as you’re likely to get from the band) don’t disappoint in that respect.

Solberg himself is in fine voice, in particular on songs like ‘I Hear The Sirens’ and the elegiac closer ‘Unfree My Soul’ , and the ten tracks that make up the album are all without exception straight from the top drawer. A superb body of work all round.

Video Clips:
‘Atonement’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-po0_DnsJk
‘Like A Sunken Ship’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAFPje41KtY
‘Silently Walking Alone’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsLXRWIN640

John Tucker September 2024