First Impressions
You ever notice how modern prog bands seem to always have pretty solid if not excellent debuts?
This was not only a breath of fresh air after listening to their modern output, but it was just an awesome experience. Now, it's still got most of the pitfalls a debut usually has, but they're handled really well.
It's really interesting. You can absolutely hear the influences they had at the start. A lot of Opeth, Mars Volta, and Dream Theater. But they're also not just regurgitating those influences. This sounds unique, at least for the time. Nowadays, it's very much what I call the "Hakencore" sound. Modern technical prog with a dash of power metal and electronic/poppy elements. But this might have been one of the first albums of it's kind. Came out in 2009, that's pretty impressive.
I wouldn't say there are any bad songs here. Though I certainly wouldn't say it's full of masterpieces either
The biggest problem it suffers is the number one pitfall of most debuts. The songwriting is just not there. There are way too many "cool" parts, instrumental or vocal. They are serviceable, but not really memorable. There are some exceptions to this and we'll get to them. But a lot of the melodies and riffs they create here feel like they're just pulled out of the usual prog bag of tricks. The foundation is there, but it's very lacking here.
Everything else is... pretty spot on honestly? Maybe the drums are a little basic here compared to the insanity in future records. But they're good. And the guitars, the riffs, the vocals, they're all really good.
Einar was a beast from the beginning. While I think he maybe pushes his singing to the back of his throat a little too much sometimes in this, he's absolutely the highlight of the album. His screams are incredible, and sound very different than your typical death growls. He sounds like an absolute monster.
The album starts with a bang. Passing is a monster of a song to introduce themselves with. It's got every trick they know how to pull. Einar is screaming his lungs out, the song feels progressive yet not meandering, and it builds to an absolutely incredible ending. The last minute or so of this song is absolutely incredible, with proper death growls and a start stop segment that is just everything I love in this kind of music.
Then you get to Phantom Pain, the undisputed best song of the album for me. You get a pretty standard intro, but once it's over, it goes into one of my favorite clichés of the now dubbed Hakencore genre. The little wacky and circusy bits.
When you get to the piano bit, and then they just go with it for the rest of the song, it's such a delight. To me, it captures the spirit of classic prog rock in a much more playful and less subtle way, which is very fitting for metal. I just love that these parts are absolutely an essential part of the modern prog sound. Dream Theater started them, bands like Between The Buried and me carried them over. Haken, now this. I love it.
You mix this sound, with an absolutely balls to the walls chorus with overwhelming screams and double kicks, and you got yourself one of my favorite Leprous songs to date.
The album dips a bit in the following songs for me. But it picks up again at He Will Kill Again. Which once again has a very playful and tongue in cheek sound. It's honestly got pretty much everything Phantom Pain has, I just like the hooks in that song better. But I will say, when it goes to the middle section with the piano and the screams, it's absolutely brutal. I love it.
The song that took the most to grow on me was Not Even A Name. But my goodness. I love it now. It's very different in some ways, mainly it's... black metal inspired main riff?
Okay I don't know if calling it black metal inspired is going too far, but it's super fast tremolo picking with really dark chords underneath. Maybe some of the darker power metal would be more accurate, like Amon Amarth. That was the absolute hook of the song for me, although I did also love the jazzy breakdown near the end.
Let's do something new here. I don't do this much, but here's the absolute lowest point of the album for me... the title track.
I absolutely did not like the title track. It is so long, so meandering, and the worst part, it's got no vocals. But it's no instrumental either. It's got this spoken word speech over it that honestly adds nothing.
It's not meaningful nor really saying anything. Just reflecting... what? Is it supposed to be a critique of modern society and us putting down those who dare to think differently? Probably, but it's honestly so on the nose and uninteresting that it just doesn't impact me whatsoever. And that's the entire song.
Luckily, the album does not end here. It's brings it back with one last banger, and the longest song of the album. I do think it's maybe a little too long, but it still feels like it says what it sets out to say without overstaying it's welcome. And once again, those verses with the little organ and guitar fills are just so fun. Honestly, kudos to Einar for his keyboard and piano playing here. It's the best I've heard in the albums so far.
Debuts are rarely gonna be a bands best album. A lot of the time they're more of a proof of concept. A show of potential. And honestly, this went a little above that. It doesn't just show what the band will grow to do in the future, but it's got some pretty damn good songs that I'll be returning to quite often.
Ranking
Phantom Pain
He Will Kill Again
Not Even A Name
Passing
White
Dare You
Fate
Tall Poppy Syndrome
Rating
6/10
Leprous reviews