Album Review: Leprous - 'Aphelion'

Leprous are one of the most important bands in heavy music today. In fact, it seems somewhat of a misnomer these days to deem them to be a ‘heavy’ band. They have morphed and evolved their sound over the years, across seven albums, into what might be more accurately termed as ‘art rock’. If such labels are important…

Aphelion is another massive leap forward in that evolution. This is one of those albums that has the reviewer staring at his/her keyboard and blank Word document, heaving a big sigh and saying, “where do I even start with this one?” As an overview, Aphelion is 10 highly dynamic, ultra-varied tracks and just under one hour of imaginative, magical music that only these Norwegian craftsmen could create.

Indeed, the craft that has been woven into these tracks is truly something to behold. Opening with the dramatic, string-laden slow-burn of single Running Low, this album takes the listener on an epic voyage across soundscapes of pure artistry, the band inlaying as much emotional depth and ebb and flow into the grooves of the tunes as you could ever want. All the way through to the quirky, stompy, crooning seven-minute closer Nighttime Disguise, which is just so far all over the place, but works such an absolute treat at the same time, it’s really quite astonishing.

It would be unfair to any of the individual tracks on offer here to single out any as highlights, this record is wall to wall quality, and a piece of art that must be experienced end to end, in the one sitting to truly be appreciated. In this day and age of streaming, constant single releases, playlists and the like, this sounds like a fair ask, but please, heed this advice. Thank us later.

Something that does require singling out, however, is this: one of the most important bands in a given genre (whatever that genre is, in this case) needs an iconic voice out front, and Einar Solberg fits that bill, and then some. His voice has always shone like a veritable beacon, and if it’s even possible, he reaches an all new level of dynamism, emotion and charismatic delivery here. His vocal cords are truly a unique instrument.

This album currently holds Album Of The Year status for this humble scribe, and is likely to transcend that and become a classic over time too. If you enjoy any kind of heavy, progressive, artistic, even experimental music whatsoever, get hold of Aphelion now.

Thank us later…

Find out more about Leprous here.