The Sky Is Red is fantastic indeed. They closed their concert in my hometown in June with that one. Outstanding drums performance!
Leprous "Melodies of Atonement" 2CD+BD-A w/ 5.1 & Atmos (InsideOut) 8/30/2024
- Thread starter haikubass
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The Sky Is Red is fantastic indeed. They closed their concert in my hometown in June with that one. Outstanding drums performance!
My 3 favourite albums are ranked last, and my 2 least favourite albums are ranked best there
I may have bought this for the mix, the music is not that bad, but the price is too high. The price is the same that I paid for each of the Fish box sets, and they are of much more value to me.
The new album just arrived today, but I won't be back home until Wednesday, so it will have to wait. But I did listen to it yesterday on Tidal (stereo, with headphones). My first impression was pretty good. Leprous can be hit or miss for me, perhaps more than any other band I appreciate, so I wasn't sure what to expect despite having enjoyed the previously released songs from this album. It was reassuring to see that, at least to a certain extent, I liked every single song during that first spin, something I can't say about half of their releases. It seems less layered and more direct, as previously indicated by the band (no guest musicians, just the core of the band here) but it still seems to be interesting enough for a multichannel mix thanks to that modern synth work and some nice vocal hamonies. I'll check that hopefully soon.
If I had to rank their albums (from best to worst) it would look like this:
1) Bilateral
2) Pitfalls
3) Tall Poppy Syndrome
4) Aphelion
5) Malina
6) Coal
7) The Congregation
Judging by that first listen, I'd put the new album in 4th place, but that might change a lot with subsequent listens.
So, as you can see, it's almost the exact opposite of that Metal Hammer list. I know many people seem to hold The Congregation in high regard, but to me it's completely impenetrable despite numerous attempts to appreciate it throughout the years. I love the chorus of the song Third Law though, but that's about the only truly interesting bit of that album for me.
If I had to rank their albums (from best to worst) it would look like this:
1) Bilateral
2) Pitfalls
3) Tall Poppy Syndrome
4) Aphelion
5) Malina
6) Coal
7) The Congregation
Judging by that first listen, I'd put the new album in 4th place, but that might change a lot with subsequent listens.
So, as you can see, it's almost the exact opposite of that Metal Hammer list. I know many people seem to hold The Congregation in high regard, but to me it's completely impenetrable despite numerous attempts to appreciate it throughout the years. I love the chorus of the song Third Law though, but that's about the only truly interesting bit of that album for me.
I don't understand exactly what is happening to mine. Days after I get a tracking number, it was just processed through Langley today.
Sort of anxious to hear them as I never heard of them until it was mentioned on QQ. So of course I ordered.
Sort of anxious to hear them as I never heard of them until it was mentioned on QQ. So of course I ordered.
..and so today it arrived without notice or fanfare? Strange. Already got everything ripped and scanned. Ever scan an artbook in a printer sized scanner, taking multiple scans? Piece it together in PhotoShop? Well that's sorta my thang. Y'all know what I'm sayin'?I don't understand exactly what is happening to mine. Days after I get a tracking number, it was just processed through Langley today.
Sort of anxious to hear them as I never heard of them until it was mentioned on QQ. So of course I ordered.
Shakespeare said: A jack of all trades is a master of none, but often times better than a master of one.
I may not be fly, but I'm the guy.
Thanks! The good reviews over in the poll thread had me hoping for a price drop! ORDERED! Stay Surrounded, Comrade!
you will surely like it, and at that price.......
That price hurts..I am enjoying my deluxe, more expensive, nothing extra added version though.
I purchased and arrived yesterday, ripping now, look forward to the listen.
Question:
The song Claustrophobic is track 11 on CD 1.
Not on CD 2 or Blu Ray, any reason?
Question:
The song Claustrophobic is track 11 on CD 1.
Not on CD 2 or Blu Ray, any reason?
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Still thinking about this one. I really like the first Leprous albums up through The Congregation, but MOA seems to continue a divisive trend that began with Malina where the musical focus shifted away from hard edged progressive metal into a bland art/pop rock that puts too much focus on Einars' emotional vocal delivery. I still like a lot of what they do, just not as much as their earlier material. Lots of fans think they can do no wrong, but many experienced prog and prog metal reviewers are not giving this high marks. I've yet to read a detailed review of the Atmos mix. At ~$70 the 2CD/BD set was a complete non-starter for me, but with Amazon reducing the list price by ~50% it's a lot more tempting.
@srbjab Surprisingly I found this album at times harkens back to the style (vocal melodies, guitar riffs and rhythms) they used to have specifically in the album Bilateral (which is my favorite Leprous album), at least on tracks 5 to 7. But yeah, it's still mostly a modern Leprous album. I'm enjoying it quite a lot though - something I can't say about every post-2011 release by them.
I haven't listened to any of the surround mixes yet. I always prefer to familiarize myself with the stereo mix of any given album before listening to the multichannel version. With 4 spins so far I feel I'm ready to be immersed in sound.
I haven't listened to any of the surround mixes yet. I always prefer to familiarize myself with the stereo mix of any given album before listening to the multichannel version. With 4 spins so far I feel I'm ready to be immersed in sound.
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I'd like to hear what you think of the surround mixes. After a few listens I like about half of the songs, but there are a few I'm inclined to skip. Self-Satisfied Lullaby, the longest track, is one of them. It finally gets going after about 4 1/2 minutes but by that time I'm bored and irritated. If I purchase it will be primarily because the Atmos or 5.1 is outstanding.
I'm planning to cover both the 5.1 & Atmos in an in-depth piece for IAA, but my immediate impression thus far is that they're (unsurprisingly) similar to Bruce Soord's surround mixes for other prog-metal bands like Katatonia, Haken, Tesseract, or Opeth. The 5.1 is pretty simple: drums/main guitars/Einar in front, backing vocals/keys/2nd guitar in rear.
The Atmos mix is different and uses a lot of the 'phantom space' between the top and bottom speakers: Einar's voice is in both the fronts and front heights, backing vocals often in between the sides and 'top middles' (all four heights in x.x.4 setup), and keys in rear + rear height. Those additional guitar parts that were in the rear in the 5.1 seems to come mainly from the front heights in Atmos - which can give the impression that it's more front-heavy - though the spread of instruments varies per song.
My main quibble is that the drums are 100% stereo through the front speakers, so they sound a bit small crammed up against the front wall especially during the heavier passages. I'm guessing this is because a two-channel stem of the whole kit was provided, because the drums sound huge and room-filling in Bruce's other Atmos mixes like The Pineapple Thief's It Leads To This or Big Big Train's The Likes of Us. I think that if you liked the Atmos mix of Katatonia's Sky Void of Stars, this one is basically equivalent in quality.
The Atmos mix is different and uses a lot of the 'phantom space' between the top and bottom speakers: Einar's voice is in both the fronts and front heights, backing vocals often in between the sides and 'top middles' (all four heights in x.x.4 setup), and keys in rear + rear height. Those additional guitar parts that were in the rear in the 5.1 seems to come mainly from the front heights in Atmos - which can give the impression that it's more front-heavy - though the spread of instruments varies per song.
My main quibble is that the drums are 100% stereo through the front speakers, so they sound a bit small crammed up against the front wall especially during the heavier passages. I'm guessing this is because a two-channel stem of the whole kit was provided, because the drums sound huge and room-filling in Bruce's other Atmos mixes like The Pineapple Thief's It Leads To This or Big Big Train's The Likes of Us. I think that if you liked the Atmos mix of Katatonia's Sky Void of Stars, this one is basically equivalent in quality.
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From this and everything else I've read it doesn't seem like the surround mixes will significantly elevate the material across the board like some surround mixes are able to do. Generally, I've liked Bruce Soords' mixes but with Atmos he does occasionally push height channel use beyond my comfort zone. Oh well, with so much to purchase these days it will probably be the sales price that makes the decision.
Same here. That song exemplifies pretty well what I do not like about modern Leprous. I find the previous 3 songs terrific, though.
I've listened to the 5.1 a couple of times. The first thing I noticed is what @sjcorne said about the drums being restricted to stereo, although it still sounds pretty good.
As he also mentioned, it's a pretty simple mix. Everything is where it's supposed to be, and it's discrete and immersive, but the word that came to my mind all the time was "workmanlike". Nothing is wrong about it, but it feels too static and sort of unimaginative. Bruce is a very talented mixer, so I wonder if the source material he had to work with was somewhat limited (and not only the drums). Maybe it was just an artistic choice, I don't know. It's not the most layered Leprous album either.
If I had to rate this release based on the 5.1 mix only, I'd vote 8. Certainly good, but far from demo material.
After the 2nd listen, I played Tesseract's War of Being for comparison, being also a very modern sounding prog-ish, metal-ish album with atmospheric layers, like Leprous, mixed by Bruce as well. I find Tesseract's 5.1 more engaging and creative, despite the similar approach. The drums also sound fuller. This would be a 9 in my book.
Let's see what the Atmos mix brings to the table. I'll write a review in the poll thread after a couple of spins. I'm very curious, since Bruce tends to use a very different approach compared to his 5.1 mixes.
As he also mentioned, it's a pretty simple mix. Everything is where it's supposed to be, and it's discrete and immersive, but the word that came to my mind all the time was "workmanlike". Nothing is wrong about it, but it feels too static and sort of unimaginative. Bruce is a very talented mixer, so I wonder if the source material he had to work with was somewhat limited (and not only the drums). Maybe it was just an artistic choice, I don't know. It's not the most layered Leprous album either.
If I had to rate this release based on the 5.1 mix only, I'd vote 8. Certainly good, but far from demo material.
After the 2nd listen, I played Tesseract's War of Being for comparison, being also a very modern sounding prog-ish, metal-ish album with atmospheric layers, like Leprous, mixed by Bruce as well. I find Tesseract's 5.1 more engaging and creative, despite the similar approach. The drums also sound fuller. This would be a 9 in my book.
Let's see what the Atmos mix brings to the table. I'll write a review in the poll thread after a couple of spins. I'm very curious, since Bruce tends to use a very different approach compared to his 5.1 mixes.
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