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.