Finally, pretty regularly every two years Leprous comes up with a new album and now it is time again. Playful progressive rock with some metal elements makes the hearts of their fans beat faster, who love exciting and fine-composed music. The upcoming album “Aphelion” promises exactly what the fans got in the last years, so I was very curious how the new album will be.

Okay, let us talk about it in detail: The two songs “Running Low“ and “The Silent Revelation“ were promoted earlier and seem to be kind of the representative main tracks of the upcoming album. I think this is valid because for me these two songs are a nice average of the songs of the whole album. The mixture of progressive, unboring song parts, symphonic arrangements, powerful guitar riffs, delighting grooves, and melancholic as well as emotional unique vocals with wonderful lyrics. In general, the album is like the last albums already a little calmer and partly pop alike, which is however in itself a unique mix.

Be definitely curious about the unreleased songs. My personal favorites are actually the last three songs: “On Hold”, “Castaway Angels” and “Midnight Disguise”. These songs have for my taste the best atmosphere in the whole album with the most interesting arrangements in the compositions. Especially the last song is a bit crazy with the mood swings, the powerful lyrics and with a refrain that comes as a refrain very untypical and almost surprisingly inappropriate, but still appropriate – simply progressive. That is also the song where the mastermind and frontman Einar Solberg shows his screaming skills – in a suitable and subtle way, appropriate to the album and its finale.

But I have to say that people who have not listened to this band very often or even never, have to give this album (as well as the rest of Leprous) some time to get into the music. I would call this album a “grower” – the more you listen to it, the better it gets, because you keep discovering new little things about the music, as well as the vocals and its lyrics, so it keeps getting better and more interesting every time you listen to it. As exciting as itself album is, it is quite homogeneous, which is by far not a big point of criticism, because it is actually a sign that the music has consolidated compositionally (as the last albums already). Compared to older albums of Leprous, I miss the increased crazy and remarkable parts and effects in a song.

The last point I have to talk about is the sound of the record. But I do not have much to say about the sound: Simply, it is perfect. The sound is powerful, brilliant, and finely mixed in the more playful and calmer parts and always fits the atmosphere of the song – I don’t think it could be better!

If you like progressive music with very well-thought-out and exciting compositions, you should definitely listen to the new album “Aphelion” by Leprous. It has everything it needs and with the unique voice of Einar Solberg as well as the unique style of this band you definitely can’t go wrong and with every listen of the album it gets better and better! Definitely a recommendation!