Leprous: The Congregation (InsideOut)
On their fifth album now and Norwegian madmen Leprous are still a premier provider of technical, progressive music that is both dark and melodic showing the talent Leprous have gained as Ihshan's touring band. As things open with The Price we get numerous time changes, odd vocal harmonies and an electronic beat backing the guitars and drums. Now Leprous draw from all manner of influences with a dual guitars of Tor Oddmund Suhrke and Øystein Landsverk mixing rock, metal and punk perfectly providing the guts and noise to all of the tracks, while Baard Kolstad and has a particular jazz style to his drumming while also handling the harder faster parts perfectly see Third Law which moves from sparse soundscapes to furious metal passages. However as with all of the Leprous albums their sound is the brainchild of frontman Einar Solberg who drives the songs along with his virtuoso keys, synths and programming and also his wild multi-octave vocal. shown on the the relentless Rewind where he moves from a chant, to a high register croon and then a fractured shout before the climax. Unlike their earlier efforts both The Congregation and it's predecessor Coal have seemed to be much more immediate than their early efforts, the songs are accessible but also musically dexterous, darkly endearing and intensely progressive in their delivery. From the start stop processed beats of Red through to the burning, sombre passion of Slave, the fist pumping passion of Down amongst others. The Congregation is yet another great expansive, expressive, progressive record full of extremely talented songwriting and chock full of great songs that are perfect as part of the album but will be even more well received in the live arena later this year. Well worth a punt if you like powerful progressive music! 9/10
George Kollias: Invictus (Seasons Of Mist)
George Kollias is the Greek drummer of American Death Metal merchants Nile and this is his debut solo album, now it is on this album that Kollias shows he is more than just a tub thumper as he handles every instrument of this album as well as the guttural vocals, so by definition this is about as solo as and album can be, however he dose have a fair few guests on the album, these are nearly all guitarists who provide the lead guitars and solos to the death metal creation Kollias has crafted. His Nile bandmates Karl Sanders and Dallas Toller-Wade show up on the title track and Voices, Rotting Christ's George Emmanuel gives his six string violence on Shall Rise/Shall Be Dead, Outloud/Firewind man Bob Katsionis on Apocalypse adds keys to the track and virtuoso Rusty Cooley on Aeons Of Burning Galaxies which also shows off Kollias' drumming talent. So is the album any good? Yes in a word, if you like relentless blastbeats, furious guitar playing and guttural roars, this is similar to Kollias' day job albeit without the Egyptian lyrics, so if you like any of these things then you will love this album. In fact it is a real technical death metal clinic with all the instruments played with precision, but Kollias has managed to create a myriad of styles within the death metal genre meaning that this album doesn't get boring or indeed dip in quality at all. A fantastic first shot by Kollias who manages to do what's familiar while adding new elements throughout. 8/10
Emerald Sun: Metal Dome (Pitch Black)
Thessaloniki's Emerald Sun have been around since 1999 and they have been playing their brand of power metal for a fair few years now so they are pretty accomplished at it and as the relentless drumming of Screamers In The Storm hits you are deep in the kind of muscular power metal that fellow Hellas Firewind and Innerwish deal so well in. Galloping power metal in it's purest form then with furious twin guitars from Paul and Johnnie, the rock solid rhythm section of George and Fotis, big keys from Sefis and the powerful vocals from Stelios. The title track echoes Warriors Of The World, Black Pearl would fit perfectly on an Alestorm album, where as Freedom Call is a power ballad worthy of the band themselves but it's Mere Reflection that stops the show before it is blown away by Dust And Bones. The production is a little tinny on this record meaning that everything feels a little washed out but as the album hurtles along at 100mph it's hard not to caught up in maelstrom of silly, grin inducing power metal. Not, big, not clever but damn fun! 7/10
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