The fourth album from this band from Norway.
The band was a quintet with a lineup of percussion, drums, bass, guitars, grand piano, synths and vocals.
Two guests added violin and vocals on the closing track.
The band returned after their 2011 album Bilateral, an album I awarded a great status in my review for ProgArchives back in August the same year. I have also reviewed their first two albums for # 3 of this blog and will review their remaining albums this spring/summer.
Coal is an hour long album. The band is listed as a progresive metal band. But the band is not a band in the Dream Theater mould. Far from it.
Take Muse's and Queen's pomp-pop, add some Dream Theater progressive metal, Gentle Giant's quirkiness and some djent. Then we get somewhere near what we get on this album.
The music is complex, quirky, a bit harsh at times and quite melodic. Leprous has carved out their own niche in the heavy prog and progressive metal scene.
They have also Einar Solberg, one of the better vocalists in the scene. He is a big part of their music and sound. His vocals covers a huge range... from djent to pop music. Impressive indeed.
The rest of the band is churning out some really complex stuff here. Maybe this album is not as good as Bilateral. Nevertheless, the band has again delivered the goods.
3.5 points
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