Review Summary: A unique fusion balancing their modern style with the intricate, off-kilter elements of their past, creating a bold and strange but compelling entry in their discography.
Leprous has evolved dramatically over their 23-year career. Starting with a complex, heavy sound marked by intricate time signatures, technical riffing, and eccentric high-pitched singing blended with throaty growls, they gradually shifted toward a more polished, atmospheric style with melancholic melodies and detailed arrangements. Most bands would have settled here, but Leprous pushed further. With
Malina, they fully embraced a more experimental, art-rock direction, focusing on emotional depth, clean vocals, rhythmic grooves, and post-rock-like dynamics. They expanded on this sound in the following albums, but
Aphelion went too far, featuring too many minimalistic passages, cheesy choruses, fewer ‘proggy’ elements, and buildups that often felt too little, too late.
Having said that, I still thought
Aphellion was great but it had strayed too far from what made Leprous exceptional. Apparently, the band felt the same way because
Melodies of Atonement is a huge step away from all the minor missteps of
Aphellion, while also restoring some of the most missed facets of the band’s first four albums.
Melodies of Atonement marks the return of some of the band’s quirky prog leanings, including off-kilter rhythms, strange stylistic pairings, a more potent
Congregation-era guitar tone, as well as a more band-centric approach overall. The overall vibe, too, is more of the dark melancholic style of
The Congregation than the self-reflective introversion of the last few releases. Before long-time fans become too excited, though, the best parts of Leprous’ modern style are still alive and well throughout
Melodies of Atonement, but they have received a darker more emphatic edge.
In all honesty, this pairing of old and new ideas has made for one of the stranger Leprous releases, and that even includes their schizophrenic debut. The album opens with pre-release single “Silently Walking Alone” which shares more in common with
The Congregation than
Aphelion with its melancholic tone, off-kilter rhythm, and even the chunky guitar riffs themselves – it’s probably the most ‘normal’ song on the album. From that point on, however, the clash of old and new, as well as the way these elements are executed, make for a strange and challenging album. There’s the programmed dance beat of “Self Satisfied Lullaby” that shares time with Enya-levels of new age ambient layered vocal melodies and sounds. Earlier in the album there’s the bizarre juxtaposition of an almost half-time bass-guitar driven dub groove with one of the chunkiest guitar riffs on the album (complete with a token growl near the middle), combined with an almost mantra-like “la la la la la la” throughout (sorry… how else do you describe that).
Every Leprous release has been its own self-contained performance delivering equal parts refinement of the past and forward-thinking new additions.
Melodies of Atonement continues this trend of refinement while exploring new sonic territories, merging the electronic art-rock of their past three releases with the dark melancholic prog of
The Congregation, while retaining the emotionally driven approach they’ve always been known for. Essentially,
Melodies of Atonement is Leprous’ best-of-both-worlds release pulling the most prominent elements from the last decade of their career and presenting them in one seamless package to deliver what is quite possibly Leprous’ best work… just be ready for levels of strangeness not seen since the band’s early days.
