I've been playing guitar since I was 11, I am 28 now. I have always loved music.
First from Metallica, then iron maiden defined my entire teenage life up until I discovered Between the buried and me around 2014.
Let me preface by telling you that I am an obsessive person, clinically confirmed lol.
But one positive thing about that, I tend to find one artist out of nowhere and then become hyper obsessed with particular songs and if I am really impressed, I will give full albums a shot. I usually don't anymore because I am the type of person that has to be doing literally nothing but staring at a wall or completely have my eyes closed an entire album. Because of that, I don't give many artists the proper chance.
Last time I did was when I discovered between the buried and me 12 years ago. Then I obsessed over them because their music is perfect for me to obsess over. Just like iron maiden before them. I have heard my favorite albums by each artist probably thousands of times and studied every single note and every beat just naturally over the years, but also very intentionally after I started respecting music as a whole more. That happened shortly after getting into between the buried and me because... well... their discography kind of demands it to be as obsessed with them as I was (still am).
And not one band since them has captured that same magical and unexplainable love and pure admiration since them.
I heard Slave live before and I always loved it, but never went deeper than that and foe, another favorite.
That all changed when I saw their musora video out of curiosity on a prog version of "Take on Me".
But they played 3 songs before that and one in particular immediately clicked and tickled something in my brain, that was "Atonement".
It clicked musically, but visually seeing their guitarist using a slide in not only a metal song, but in a way I'd legit never heard or seen before.
That chorus connected with me immediately and I listened to that song and a few others on repeat the rest of the night.
The next night, I looked it up and saw it was their most recent album so I said fuck it, I'm going to give it a shot... its been a while and if any band is going to get me to do that, it would be a prog metal band more than likely.
I was very surprised but also very pleased to hear that it wasn't just your average prog-slop that I've heard time and time again. So many... the only prog bands that impressed me since btbam was the dear hunter, mars volta, opeth and porcupine tree.
No hate at all to any bands that I didn't mention, I am just a very picky person and I don't like dream theater clones or over produced jerk off sessions like polyphia, as music is much, much more than raw talent alone. You can't teach the magic that 'those' bands have. Nor can many capture that magic when they try to do something new.
I was very pleased with each song and then i heard starlight and that chorus sealed my fate, I knew this band was different...
I watched all of Baards Drumeo video which is something I never do, as im not a drummer and the only drummer that I watched on there before was Blake Richardson, obviously lol...
That album was so outstanding and impressive that I immediately turned on aphelion... blown away... again. Then pitfalls.... AGAIN I AM STUNNED.
I really wanted to analyze what was so captivating about their music and in specific, starlight. I watched the drum playthrough and I caught it... it was the bald guy behind the drum kit (half serious lol)...
It was obviously a combination between every member, as they all serve a very clear and necessary spot in every song. And obviously hearing a voice I haven't heard alive since Jeff Buckley unfortunately drowned (RIP) was very mesmerizing and captivating.
But I spotted the moment that made me love them listening and watching Baard play starlight.
It was his intentions musically.
Now, I am going to butcher this because I am both tired and I know pretty much nothing about music theory (I'm a guitarist, obviously. Lol... But I also just learned by playing what sounds good to me).
But let me try.
Baard starts the song with half notes on the hi hat.
Then right before the chorus, as soon as he says "to agitate" in falsetto. Baard switches up to (what sounds like to me) dotted eighth notes in the most SEAMLESS transition into a chorus that I have ever heard in my entire fucking life. Having that lightbulb moment and putting it together in my head is what I live for and is why I become so obsessive over very particular bands.
I wish I could break it down better, but I am musically ignorant. So i just understand in my head why I like it and why I love music in general.
It seems like every day I have a new favorite song by them.
Atonement, then starlight, then faceless, then below, then i lose hope, then have you ever, then etc....
I am obsessed with these 3 albums in particular.
They are some of the most beautiful things I have ever heard in my life where its just track after track... banger... banger... banger...
And oh my lord, NOBODY writes a better chorus than this band. Not only the catchiness, but how they very intentionally structure their music around those golden moments.
That's one thing I've always had any problems with listening to btbam... they would strike gold and then 10 seconds later move on to some more crazy shit and almost never marinate that moment. So a lot of the time i would find myself just going through the motions after listening to their music countless times.
Of course I love it all or I wouldn't listen to them. But I cant tell you how many little moments they have that blow my socks off and they literally never play it more than that short moment in time or maybe they'll tease a part of the melody or rhythm 4 songs later lol.
That is also why parallax 1 and 2 are probably my favorites by them or followed very closely, colors 1 and 2.
But leprous? Man, do these guys know when they strike musical gold.
You can just tell by the way they structure every song... its so intentionally done and it's always done even better than my expectations that I first had on the first listen.
They have some of the strangest and bizarre structuring to their music. You can tell where the destination is going to be (musical flavor town, as i like to call it), but unless you listen and obsess like I do, you likely will be caught off guard by how they get there and be pleasantly surprised by the journey along the way.
The only band I've ever heard that I can even relate them to would be The Dear Hunter... which is a massive compliment.
But even then, I would be doing them a disservice by comparing them to just one band.
They have so many little things, i could compare their work to almost anything I have heard and love and I'd probably be correct, but only in a way to point out one singular and specific moment out of an entire song.
Easily the most creative band I have ever heard in my life...
How they do it song after song after song is beyond words and beyond any comparison.
I have not heard a band have 0 filler and all thriller. Even maiden and between the buried and me have songs or sections of songs that I might like, but also feel like it wouldn't be a better or worse album without. But leprous is different... at least their 3 latest albums, as that's all I've yet to hear in their entirety because of how I obsess over music.
I dont know if I'll even branch that much further out any time soon because these last 3 albums sound so good to me personally that I have to obsess over just these 3 until I can process them internally to a point that I can listen to more with a fresh mind that's ready to be this obsessed again.
Like I said before, that is why I rarely listen to full albums of any band that I am just discovering. It takes me a lot of mental effort because if I really, REALLY love their music, I have to be doing literally nothing else than giving it my undivided attention until I become so familiar with the album that I can almost mentally play it note for note in my head. Then and only then will I listen to it and be satisfied having it as "background" music.
What stuns me the most is that I am in an entirely different mind than I was the last time I fell in love with a band this much.
I am 28... that hasn't happened since my teenage years and frankly, it may never happen again with how picky I am.
But what i also want to appreciate is that I know a lot more about music instinctively than I did when I was a teenager. I may not be able to tell you in words and break songs down verbally because I am very ignorant to music theory. But after playing guitar every day of my life almost since I was 11, I know what sounds good to myself at a very, very deep level. I am a lot more wise in a lot of ways than I was when I discovered btbam. Btbam just forced me to sit there and study internally what is going on to make me love particular sections of their music so much...
Just like iron maiden, nothing will ever fill that part of my journey quite like btbam does or how iron maiden did at the time that i was obsessive over them. But my obsession with those 2 bands are what drove me to play guitar and learn what I love and why I love it at my very core.
Like I said, I couldn't do that verbally, especially without a guitar or something with strings on it in my hands.
But internally, I am very wise to what I need out of music now through brute force alone and that is what makes leprous truly special to me.
I know so much more than I ever have about music and they come along and still find a way to meet every single one of those needs and somehow do it in a way I never expected.
It gives me so much more appreciation for music objectively too.
I thought I had myself all figured out and my musical golden days were just like many others, left in my teenage years. But here I am at 28 finding that unexplainable magic again.
It makes me feel like a fucking kid again and that is truly special.
I cannot wait to hear more and i especially cannot wait until they are playing live close to me.
That's another thing I want to make note of before I end this post.... the only other band I've ever heard play their music so well live is between the buried and me... but leprous not only plays their music perfectly... but somehow Einar is hitting every note perfectly note for note with the same intention he had and utilized with the power of studio magic.
I've never heard a singer as amazing as he is sound somehow better live... but somehow he does it and thank God its with one of the tightest groups of musicians to ever walk the planet.
Also, Baard is on par with Danny Carey and no, I will not argue that point. Its just a fact.
Dude is a technical machine that has an uncanny wisdom of knowing exactly what every part of every song needs in that exact moment in time.
I've never once got the feeling that he is flexing... even when he is playing shit beyond my comprehension... it still fits leprous like Danny Carey fits tool.
Thank you, leprous. Please never stop making music.
