Album Review: LEPROUS Pitfalls (10/25)

Leprous is a progressive metal (early) / rock (later) band from Norway, formed in 2001 with the first album released in 2009. The group was founded by singer and keyboardist Einar Solberg and guitarist Tor Oddmund Suhrke. Both are the remaining founding members left and they are the main songwriters. Since 2015's The Congregation Solberg is gradually dominating the writing process. The band trademark sound is characterized by peculiar singing style, and blending of different genres such as experimental rock, avant-garde metal, and pop..

The follow-up to 2017's Malina, Pitfalls is Leprous' sixth studio album. While Malina was already a divisive record, Pitfalls is even seen as the biggest production and a musical departure for the group yet. This time around, Leprous brought in a cellist, violinist, and classical choir for the production. The first single "Below" opens the album featuring string arrangements, electronic elements, acoustic and organic parts. It has a very emotional and melancholic vibe to it and it sets the mood for the album. Pitfalls was mostly written and composed by Einar Solberg during a dark moment of his personal life. The lyrics and musical direction certainly reflect that state of mind as he used this album as a therapeutic channel. The result is an emotional listening experience across the 9 tracks / 55 min.

Among other highlights is "Alleviate", a great short and engaging single, and "Distant Bells", a 7-min jazzy prog rock track with a beautiful use of the string instruments. Both tracks are good examples of Solberg's great vocal performance. He is using his range and versatility going for those high notes and sometimes putting some drive in heavier parts. While those songs are melancholic with slow tempo passages, they also display good energy and beautiful melodies. It was a good decision to release both as singles before the album was out. "At the Bottom" brigs on the 80's synth giving it a retro feeling during its 7-min with ups and downs. "Foreigner" is the upbeat rock track that even reminds me of Kamelot. I wish we had others like it. It's a nice injection of energy towards the end of the album and before the epic 11-min closer "The Sky Is Red". This song features the only guitar solo of the album. The Pink Floydian interlude using the choral is a very nice touch to finish the album.

Where does it all leave us? The album starts well with "Below" and has a good sequence of songs in its second half , but there's also low points early in the album and during some tracks. Sometimes the drum beats are simple pop groove or the slow parts drag for too long. For example "I Lose Hope" is too poppy for my taste and "Observe the Train" too much of an "ambient song".  Overall, those slow, pop and dragging moments can be very demotivating and leaving me with a sense of wanting more. The problem is that we know Leprous can get us there because of the better songs.

Pitfalls is a leap of faith into a different and challenging territory and, as confirmed by the band themselves, a departure from their previous sound. For me personally, the gap is too wide and Pitfalls sounds more like a Solberg solo album than Leprous. Time will tell if this is the new direction or a one off experiment. But objectively, it's clearly a well written and produced record and very emotional. There are great moments here that will work well live. I suspect a good part of the fans will dig Pitfalls, but like Malina it will continue to be divisive.

SCORE: 78/100
DR: 6
Genre: Progressive Metal
Released by Inside Out Music on October 25th, 2019

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Rating System
98 - 100 Perfect
92 - 97 Excellent
86 - 91 Great
81 - 85 Very Good
77 - 80 Good
69 - 76 Mixed
58 - 68 Bad

Album Review: RAY ALDER What The Water Wanted (10/18)

I'm glad this week we didn't have any big releases of interest to me. So I decided to give a try to Fates Warning (1988 to date), Redemption (2005-2016) and Engine (1999-2002) vocalist Ray Alder first solo album What The Water Wants. It's a very straightforward affair with 46 min and 10 songs which Alder as written with Mike Abdow (Fates Warning touring guitarist), guitarist/bassist Tony Hernando (Lords Of Black) and drummer Craig Anderson (Ignite). Alder said that he "had the ideas for a while" and the Fates Warning break from writing and touring was the perfect opportunity to assemble the album.

While not a Fates Warning album, there are of course several moments of similarity. The vocal lines is what resembles Fates Warning the most: very catchy, melodic and beautifully and skillfully sang by Alder. But overall musically the band sounds different from Fates Warning or Redemption. The guitar playing is very distinct from Jim Matheos and there's a very prominent bass. Alder and friends were able to craft a rather unique sound on their own. But don't get me wrong, songs like "Shine" and "A Beautiful Lie" which are high tempo are where we hear Fates Warning influence the most. And "The Road" sounds like straight out of Parallels. Other moments like "Some Days" and "Under Dark Skies" are low tempo and melancholic relying on great arrangements and impressive bass lines. On the bass subject, the single "Crown of Thorns" is a very different and catchy track based on a bass riff. "Wait" goes very riffy and it's the heaviest song here. It's also good to hear some very good guitar solos in several songs, my favorite being "The Killing Floor" and "Wait".

I suspect any Fates Warning fan of the Alder era will dig this big time. His fantastic and unique voice makes it impossible not to compare to Fates Warning. But still What The Water Wanted sounds different enough to make it an interesting journey on its own.

SCORE: 82/100
DR: 7
Genre: Progressive Metal
Released by Inside Out Music on October 18th, 2019

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Album Review: VANDEN PLAS The Ghost Xperiment - Awakening (10/11)

Vanden Plas is a German progressive metal band founded in the mid-1980s and releasing the first album in 1994. Since then the band has the same line-up which consists of Stephen Lill on guitars, his brother Andreas Lill on drums, Torsten Reichert on bass, Andy Kuntz on vocals, and Günter Werno on keyboards. Vanden Plas can be referred to as "German Dream Theater", but I do think their sound has always been less complex than the american counterparts and Vanden Plas are actually more theatrical. The band has always combined the heavy riffs from S. Lill with the magical keys from Werno and quite often orchestrations. Kuntz vocals are on the high pitched end but never over-the-top. All of that over a very solid rhythmic foundation. This formula has led the band to release 8 studio albums which are all very consistent in quality. The last album was released in two parts. The last Chronicles of the Immortals: Netherworld II was released in 2015 and the band hasn't been on tour since 2017.

Now the quintet is back with the ninth studio album, The Ghost Xperiment – Awakening which is part one of a two part concept album, with the second part Illumination to be released in 2020. The last two part album was highly theatrical with shorter songs, narrations and full of orchestrations. Awakening is a return to the roots while not loosing their evolution of the last years. Awakening is heavier and uses less orchestrations (albeit still there) but it's also slightly more progressive with mostly long songs. All in all, they are truthful to their trademark sound where progressive heaviness meets melody. Those points can be noticed already with the opening notes of the album, "Cold December Night" starts with a heavy guitar riff tone followed by a groovy drum beat. I’m positively surprised how great the drumming is throughout the album (but take "Devils' Poetry" as a fine example ). I also love the guitar work, it’s heavy on the riffs and the solos are great while not overdone. Now the most important thing is how all instruments work so well together, the arrangements are just great. I like when at moments the guitar goes into the background and the bass and keys can also shine. While there’s nothing to really to complain about The Ghost Xperiment - Awakening, somehow I was expecting more. Maybe more epic and catchy choruses? Like I feel that the song "Fall from the Skies" is great but the vocal melody in the chorus is a bit of a letdown. Or maybe what I missed was a really stand out song to blow me away. For now, I didn’t get that, but it could still come with repeated listens.

Those minor observations aside, Vanden Plas did it again, the band has no bad records in their 25-year old discography and Awakening is not changing that accomplishment. Old fans will dig this and for new ones this is as good as any Vanden Plas album. The band and musicians individually are highly underrated and this band should be getting much more attention from prog critics and fans.

SCORE: 82/100
DR: 7
Genre: Progressive Metal
Released by Frontiers Records on October 11th, 2019

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The Top 10 Albums That Shaped My Musical Life Post 2005

In my 2015 post The Top 12 albums that shaped my musical life I covered the first two waves of albums that shaped my life: The very first one in the mid-80's and when I rediscover metal in the mid-90's. Now I want to reflect on waves 3 (mid-2000's) and 4 (early 2010's).

Wave 3: 2005-2007

Christ Illusion by Slayer (2006)

I was living in the US and I was bored with the radio friendly and classic rock that I was listening to there. So I decided to explore heavier stuff. One of the critics that I respected at the time elected this album as one of the best of the year. And even though I had Show No Mercy from back in the day, I never got into it. Well, I loved Christ Illusion and next thing I know I finally discovered Reign in Blood, the whole discography and the rest is history. Since then, Slayer is one of my favorite bands.

The Roundhouse Tapes by Opeth (2007)

A classmate and the guitar player of my band at the time, suggested to me to check Opeth. I got two tracks from the live album from iTunes: "Windowpane" and "Bleak". I remember being so impressed and I was sure they had two singers. Even though I loved those songs for some reason I only came to explore the full discography with the release of Heritage in 2011 (during my fourth wave of discoveries).

Ascendancy by Trivium (2005)
That same friend also suggested Trivium as the "next Metallica" or something. "Like Light To The Flies" became a personal favorite. Luckily I started with what's arguably their best album yet. Other songs are also great. They didn't become as big as we expected. But the most important thing is that it opened my mind to give a chance to new modern bands.

The End of Heartache by Killswitch Engage (2004)

And finally the same guy invited me to see Killswitch Engage live. I will never forget the powerful performance from Howard Jones, Adam Dutkiewicz's killer riffs and most importantly the mix of screens and clean vocals. I was caught by surprise and was really impressed. As a result, Killswitch Engage was a perfect way into this style of metal. Years have passed and to this day is one of my favorite bands.

The Blackening by Machine Head (2007)
I had only heard about the band until they opened for Heaven And Hell in 2007, I think. So I got a couple of songs via iTunes "Halo" and "Imperium"...love at first sight. I had no idea that The Blackening would become such a classic record and until today their best album by far. It was a good start!

Wave 4: 2011-2012

The Hunter by Mastodon (2011)
I had never heard of the band when The Hunter was released and it took me one year to understand it and get into their sound. Better late than never! The thing is, this is one of their weakest album, so you can imagine as I discovered they were even better than I thought. These days it is one of my favorite modern bands.

Koloss by Meshuggah (2012)
I was hypnotized by this album! I listened to "Do Not Look Down" more than 70 times just in my PC. But the real game changer was seeing them live! What an experience that is! After that, they become a favorite band! One of the best metal shows of this decade. Looking back discovering their disco was a welcomed pleasure!

Periphery II: This Time It's Personal by Periphery (2012)
I saw an interview with John Petruci talking about Periphery who were opening for Dream Theater. I watched "Icarus Lives!" on YouTube and was really impressed. But instead of buying the debut, I got their newest release at the time and Periphery II became my album of the year. I really like all the albums that followed it.

The Parallax II: Future Sequence by Between the Buried and Me (2012)
This was actually my first BTBAM album and I love it for that. After getting into Periphery, I bought a ticket for a show of both bands together.  BTBAM was promoting Parallax II. So I listened to it and to Colors. From there I started to dig their whole discography and like all the other bands in this wave, they became one of my favorite modern prog bands.

Atlas by Parkway Drive (2012)
Despite being a fan of Killswitch Engage for sometime at that point, overall I was not yet willing to try bands who were considered "anything-core". But those Aussies' very metallic metalcore convinced me to give it a try. It worked and from there I have embraced their full discography and added a few metalcore bands to my list of favorite modern bands.






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Album Review: INSOMNIUM Heart Like a Grave (10/04)

Insomnium is a Finnish melodic death metal band with humble beginnings back in 1997. Markus Hirvonen (drums),  Ville Friman (guitars/clean vocals) and Niilo Sevänen (bass/harsh vocals) the original members were inspired by bands such as their legendary countrymen Amorphis and Sentenced, early Paradise Lost or Swedish melo death pioneers. Markus Vanhala (guitar) joined in 2011. In 2019, Jani Liimatainen (ex-Sonata Arctica) who had already been a live guitarist became a full-time member. Insomnium sound portrays darkness, sorrow, loss, pain, and nature via melodic death metal with a touch of doom and progressive metal.

After the acclaimed  Shadows of the Dying Sun (2014) and Winter’s Gate (2016), the 8th studio album, Heart Like a Grave consists of 10 songs and over an hour of Finnish melancholy. According to the band, the album "draws inspiration from some of the bleakest tales, lyrics and poems of the north". The album opens with a short melancholic and mid tempo song, "Wail of the North" which builds up from the keyboard alone to an explosion of all instruments. Then half way through its 3 minutes, the vocals come in. It’s a short single and an intro song hybrid. In any case it leads the way to a fast tempo melodeath hymn and first single “Valediction”. This great song relies on clean vocals for all verses but also death metal vocals for the pre-chorus, catchy chorus and bridge. This is actually the song with most clean vocals on this album. There are other moments of melodeath Gothenburg-style such as the In Flames-ish "Neverlast" or the super melodic and groovy “Mute Is My Sorrow” and the headbanger "The Offering" (featuring a great lead guitar).

Throughout the record Insomnium use some elements that make the album dynamic and interesting: Keyboards, acoustic guitars (actually five songs start with acoustic arpeggios) and clean vocals. Those are frequent resources that the band uses but never overdoing it. The title track features all of those and  shows the other side of the album: the mid tempo doomy melancholic Insomnium. Acoustic guitars, a chorus alternating clean and growling vocals , whispering singing and melodic guitar phrasing set the tone of this dark and somber beauty of a song. With just over 7 min Vanhala, who wrote it, still had time to pick up the speed for the final bridge before come full circle to the acoustic guitars closing. "And Bells They Toll" and "Twilight Trails" (which shows a bit of an Enslaved vibe) follow the same line. But the 9-min "Pale Morning Star" shows the more progressive side of the band and kind of mix the two album directions in one song. It starts melancholic, it picks a up speed but then it goes doomy again in the middle section. This song has the best guitar solo of the album and great basslines (even if a bit low in the mix). Talking about prog, the album closes with a 7-min instrumental that, while not adding much, is a nice final touch.

All of that is very positive, there are however a couple of problems with Heart Like a Grave. First, it's a bit too long, Insomnium could've cut two songs out to stay in the 8 tracks and 50-ish min mark. For example, I'd prefer the album to kick-off with the powerful riff of "Valediction". Second, I was not impressed with their originality, nothing really stood out as a step forward. Finally, at times, passages sound too much like Amon Amarth mid-tempo songs e.g. "Under the Northern Star". And that bothered me a bit. With all that said, it's a great album which I played on repeat for days.

While Heart Like a Grave does not stack up to Insomnium 2016's masterpiece Winter’s Gate, it does provide a diverse and versatile journey truthful to their trademark sound. The distinct songs bounce between melodeath and melancholic doom influences with a hint of prog metal. All in all, it's a solid addition to Insomnium's catalog and brings some interesting possibilities for their live setlist.

SCORE: 80/100
DR: 9
Genre: Death Metal
Released by Century Media Records on October 4th, 2019

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