Leprous – Tall Poppy Syndrome
Posted by Revelation 23 on May 20, 2009
Leprous - Tall Poppy Syndrome
Norway’s Leprous already have an impressive résumé; they are two time finalists in the Norwegian Rock Championships, singer/keyboardist Einar Solberg was in Emperor during their 2006-2007 tour and Leprous was selected by Ihsahn to be his backing band in support of Opeth (which was unfortunately cut short). Signed to Sensory Records, Tall Poppy Syndrome was released on May 5th.
I don’t really know how to best describe Leprous’ sound. It’s progressive, it’s avant-garde, it’s experimental. But above all, it’s awesome. The varied list of influences come through (including Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Devin Townsend, Mike Patton, Ihsahn, Seal, Björk and some classical composers) but Leprous doesn’t really sound like any of them, the closest comparison I can think of would be something like Arcturus. But better.
Starting off with one of the best album openers I’ve ever heard, “Passing”, Leprous keeps going strong all the way until the end. Though half of the songs are over eight minutes long and only one comes in at under 6 minutes, the songs don’t seem to drag on for a long time, staying interesting from start to finish. Okay, the ending of album closer ”White” is a bit longer than I would’ve liked but it still works, and wouldn’t be as effective anywhere else on the album. Most of the vocals are cleanly sung, with bursts of screaming, falsetto and death vocals. Einar has done a fantastic job here and he is probably the highlight of the album, but that’s not to say that he overpowers the rest of the band.
The rest of the band mesh well together, crafting very solid songs that avoid repetition, all the while remaining consistent. The songs are well written and performed to near perfection, without the excessive shredding or other technical wankerysometimes present in progressive music. There are a few pleasant surprises though, with the hypnotic, chiming chords in the middle of ”Dare You” being one of my favorite moments on the album. Of course, keyboards are a part of Leprous’ sound, but they are used in moderation and to great effect. With Hammond and Mellotron sounds also at his disposal (if not using a real Hammond or Mellotron, I don’t know for sure), Einar does a great job at adding flavor to the songs where needed without adding too much.
I did find “Fate” and “Tall Poppy Syndrome” a bit hard to get into at first, but that didn’t last very long. “Fate” is a song that may seem most familiar amongst the almost alien sounding songs - and not in a weird way, just different from what most bands (prog or non-prog alike) are doing. “Tall Poppy Syndrome” features Joachim Heise reciting ‘Jante Law’ (Janteloven in Denmark and Norway, Jantelagen in Sweden), a concept by Aksel Sandemose in 1933 that deals with social order. For the curious, Tall Poppy Syndrome is a term used in Australia and New Zealand, which also deals with maintaining order in a society, rooted in writings by Aristotle and Livy. They’re not the exact same thing, but they’re very similar, so using them together makes sense.
Just as the album starts off strong, it ends just as strong with “White”, the longest song here. It features some of the best stuff to be found on the album, bothmusically (including a section with both a Hammond and a Mellotron) and in the vocals. It also features some lyrics that are a bit… um, different (‘Tie these chains and link what’s, take what’s / Mine, what’s yours, you’re mine, not yours / above discoloured vomit pours’), but the delivery is so freaking awesome on this song, it doesn’t matter if there’s a WTF? moment going on.
So, what to think? It may a bit early, but I’d have to say that this is definitely a candidate for Album Of The Year.
Visit www.myspace.com/leprousband to hear a few songs from the album. If you like progressive metal, especially the type that doesn’t do the same things that a lot of other bands are doing, I think it’s safe to say that you’ll enjoy this one. Hopefully these guys stick around for many years and can continue to make music like this.
