Leprous - The Congregation

Leprous move toward a blend of their previous disparate styles to mixed results on their fourth full-length

Striking an intriguing balance between their more traditional Dream Theater-influenced  prog brethren and the prickly heaviness of the djent and black metal styles, Leprous have been one of the more interesting and dynamic progressive metal bands around since they dropped their debut, Tall Poppy Syndrome, out of nowhere in 2009. Since then they've steadily shifted gears from a heavy-prog-tinged-with-avante-garde wackiness to an increasingly dark, groovy palette with a heavy use of repetition (Coal). Their eagerly anticipated fourth album, The Congregation is finally here, and, kind of like that album artwork its confusing to experience, seemingly made out of recycled bits, and doesn't seem to mesh with the music very well.

Luckily, things get off to a good start: opener "The Price" is probably their best lead track ever, with a pulsating groove, excellent chorus, and a tight runtime. "Rewind" is another highlight, and one of the most successful of the more experimental tracks contained here, as is "The Flood", which reminded me of "Valley" of Coal in all the right ways (Also, I can't remember the last time I liked an album's early-release singles this much in a long time). From here on out things get a bit murky, as the middle stretch of tunes - "Red", "Slave", and "Within My Fence" can't keep the fire burning hot enough, although "Slave" is kind of interesting lyrically and "Within My Fence" is only about three minutes long. Like every Leprous album, though, the back end of The Congregation is almost worth the price of admission: "Moon" is a forgettable but pleasant song, kind of a slightly-less-interesting "Passing" or "Painful Detour", but "Down" and "Lower" are both excellent tracks in their own right.

A lot of the buzz around Leprous is discussing where they're going, as Coal drew mixed reactions. The Congregation is definitely not Bilateral Pt. 2, but it isn't Coal: Reloaded either. The best songs here achieve an impressive fusion of the syncopated djent-y riffing going on in Coal paired with the things that Leprous does best: big, hooky choruses, weird compositions, and vocals that sound like a goth version of Freddy Mercury. Sadly, the good ideas here are weighted down with a sizeable number of weak songs put up against a lot of good vocal lines (although nothing crazy like "The Cloak" or "Mb. Indifferentia" which is a bummer), at times The Congregation really starts to sound like an Einar solo album. Considering how tightly-wound their previous albums were, its a bit of a bummer to hear a Leprous album with such a lack of memorable instrumentation.

That said, Leprous are the kings of the earworm so its entirely possible that The Congregation will grow on people (and me) over time. Just try not to leave right after the sermon.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Scummy, dangerous, and terrifically enjoyable, Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the best action films in recent years, featuring nerve-wracking stunts and the return of the franchise's'iconic weaponized vehicles.

One of the greatest joys of movie-watching is seeing one person's particular vision or style shining through the countless layers of editing, re-shooting, re-recording, re-writing, and general compromise that comes with shooting a movie, especially one with any kind of large budget. When hundreds of people you barely know are working on something like this, it takes a special kind of personality and guiding hand to maintain the film's style. With an ample supply of both money and talent, George Miller's post-apocalyptic touchstone roars back to life.

First off: Fury Road isn't a reboot. Its simply a direct continuation of the previous Mad Max movies with a new Max, Tom Hardy. Hardy's handling of the role is much like Kiefer Sutherland's replacing of David Hayter in the new Metal Gear games -- he seems good, but only had roughly five lines of dialogue so it's hard to tell for sure. To be fair, Fury Road has a pretty light amount of dialogue in general, but Hardy certainly has the "gruff mush-mouth" type down pat -- and for most of the movie, Max is just along for the ride as other characters drive the plot -- a plot that is pretty stripped down, with just enough hints and details to flesh things out while still serving as a series of, honestly, pretty compelling reasons to watch insanely tricked out vehicles crash and and explode.

The vehicles, of course, are the heart of soul Mad Max, and the ones created for Fury Road are nothing short of breathtaking. The chase/battle scenes are the centerpiece here, and the more than 150 (!) unique, hand-made cars and trucks created for them are fully-driveable works of art. These sequences are psychotic waltzes of sand-coated brutality with some very impressive stunt work and choreography -- roughly 90% of the action is practical, i.e. real. I would be remiss if I didn't give huge props to Colin Gibson, the production designer who brought Miller's automotive insanity to life.

As far as the story and acting goes, it's solid. There isn't a whole lot of exposition, but what little of it exists is delivered convincingly, and Charlize Theron wrings pretty much everything possible out of her character. On thing about the characters here: they die with surprising frequency and suddenness, and those deaths hit way harder emotionally than I thought they would.

As a full-on action movie, Fury Road is incredibly solid -- an effective plot, solid acting, with an emphasis (honestly, a reliance) on over-the-top chase sequences that are both nauseatingly dangerous to watch and insanely well put together, with top-notch visual design and cinematography. It's definitely worth a test drive.

Soen - Tellurian

Moody prog-metal supergroup's second disc sees them move away from Tool-worship with this set of intricate yet intimate songs. 

Of all the big-name progressive acts that are frequently name-dropped as influences, Tool is one I don't see being mentioned much as one might think. Swedish prog supergroup Soen are clearly big fans of Maynard and the gang, as their debut album Cognitive drew equal amounts of kudos and condemnation for their very Tool-like sound. With their sophomore release Tellurian, do they step out of Tool's shadow? Yes, and what emerges is infinitely more interesting than mere hero-worship.

The most immediately affecting aspect of Tellurian is, unfortunately, how it sounds. The production here takes "bottom heavy" to a whole new level, with an ever-present layer of murky bass that constantly fights with the other instruments to maintain dominance. The drums also sound less than stellar -- the bass drums sound more like far-off machine gun fire than musical instruments during intense passages without other sounds to cloak them. While the guitars and vocals are fine, this production job is the single biggest thing that takes away from my enjoyment of this album.

Questionable mixing aside, if the songs themselves are good, then they should be able to shine through, correct? Yes, and in Tellurian's case, they certainly do. Tracks like "Ennui", "Pluton", and especially "The Words" are incredible pieces of music, and Soen do the "dark/heavy music with emotive lyrics" thing much better than Tool ever did after Aenima, striking just the right balance between proggy noodling (of which there is precious little here, thankfully), Opeth-like heavy passages and catchy, memorable choruses, and unlike most other prog outfits today, Tellurian clocks in at a pretty lean fifty-two minutes -- you won't find any filler here, which helps the songs maintain a more consistent quality. "The Other's Fall" is probably the worst of the lot, but Soen really stepped up their writing game and crafted each song with memorable hooks and choruses to keep you interested.

So yeah, Tellurian is more than just a step in the right direction -- it's a leap forward in evolution for these guys. (Plus, just look at that artwork. With sleeve art like that, it's gotta be good, right?)

Psychotic Waltz

Lumped in with the burgeoning progressive metal movement, Psychotic Waltz were one of the more interesting bands to come out of that scene. Originally formed under a different name, they started releasing music in '86 and made some waves with their debut album, A Social Grace, which was pretty much a straight-up progressive/tech death record a la Atheist (who's Piece of Time came out just a year prior) with some odd Jethro Tull-ish flourishes, like (seriously) flute solos and light keyboard.

If they continued down that path, though, Psychotic Waltz would not have been nearly as interesting. Their next album, Into the Everflow, came out in '92 and generated even more buzz than A Social Grace, as they began their metamorphosis into spaced-out psychedelic metal. Tracks like "Ashes", "Little People", and especially "Freakshow" kept up the "progressive" facade (which they would soon abandon), weird-ass pieces like "Out of Mind", the title track, and especially the album closer "Butterfly" showcase a band going totally off the reservation -- and they never really came back.

1994's Mosquito brought the Waltz's strange brew of trippy lyrics and spiky, intricate song structures to a boiling point. By this point they had more or less completely abandoned the "progressive" scene as it was now defined by bands like Dream Theater and Queensryche on the metal side of the spectrum and neo-prog revivalists like Spock's Beard, the Flower Kings, and Marillion on the softer, more traditional end of the continuum. Instead, they descended even deeper into the hazy depths of stoner and psychedelic music than ever before, turning in their most hooky, accessible record yet (or since). The first half of the album still holds up as one of the strongest opening salvos recorded -- tracks like "Lovestone Blind", "Haze One", "Locked Down", and the title track are insanely groovy, reaching an excellent balance between the whacked-out lyrics and soundscapes of psychedelia with the slammin' riffs of the best stoner music has to offer. Unfortunately, tensions within the band were high around this time, and Psychotic Waltz's last chance at real success passed them by, caused by a combo deal of poor promotion, being signed to a succession of obscure European-only labels, and the apparent bad luck that comes with being a metal band playing anything somewhat original.

They would end up releasing one more album. 1996's Bleeding which, while not quite a chore to listen to, is a far cry from their previous height, leaning more towards the technical style of their early years with decidedly less memorable arrangements than usual. After Bleeding, the Waltz broke up and seemingly went their separate ways, but in 2010 they began touring again and announced plans for a new album. It's been five years without any news, so I'm not holding my breath, but the legacy of Psychotic Waltz is still plenty strong as it is.