BILATERAL

Norway's Leprous are tough to pigeon-hole, but tech/extreme is a lesser part of their identity. Some songs follow the catchy prog metal a la Dreamtheater template so common these days. Others remind of textured alternative rock with its fragile-to-powerful dynamic. And then there are traces of their extreme metal origins, with occasional blast beats, dissonant atmospherics and screaming vocals tearing thru the proceedings. In short, they are diverse enough to be worth a listen, but not consistent and don't hold enough surprises (if you don't count extreme metal suddenly, and often irritatingly, punctuating otherwise normal songs) to be great. Or perhaps the problem is a lack of identity at all. Because sometimes it feels like the only thing reminding this is the same band is the impressively ranged vocal of Einar Solberg.