Leprous Are Back With Another Progressive Gem, This Time Without Ihsahn

Norwegian progressive metal outfit Leprous gained widespread notoriety as Ihsahn’s backing band, but the members proved they were worthy of their own consideration with 2011’s Bilateral, an enthralling and complex listen. The threads connecting Ihsahn’s solo output to Leprous’ sound are immediately palpable, but I find Leprous to be even more proggy than the former Emperor frontman though a tad less heavy. Ihsahn gave his friends an assist with a guest vocal appearance on “Thorn,” but the music on Bilateral spoke for itself anyway.

Leprous are back only a year and a half after the release of Bilateral with a new album called Coal, due out in North America on May 28th via Inside Out Records, and this time they’re entirely on their own. Heavy Blog is Heavy has the exclusive premiere of “Chronic,” a sprawling, 7-minute Queen-like epic with soaring Devin Townsendian vocals, buzzsaw guitars, choppy, off-time beats and haunting keyboard atmospherics. If the rest of Coal is anything like this we’ll be in for a real treat come the end of May.