THE CONGREGATION

With The Congregation, Leprous moves firmly into experimental/post-rock category, though to be sure, they are neither that experimental nor that post-. Continuing the evolution of their previous Coal album, they gradually replace their old stylings of mashing various metal sub-genres together with more post-rock and Brit pop. Now it is about build-ups and emotions, repeated, stop-start chords, atmospheric, minimalistic verses culminating in wall-of-sound choruses reminiscent of old Radiohead. But still played with deep-end guitar loudness and drum acrobatics of their metal roots (even a couple of death vocals of old). The pace is mostly slow-to-mid, which showcases well the band's tightness and impressive elongated vocal mannerisms. But, as with another forward-thinking band, TesseracT, the problem with the Congregation is that all songs are built basically using the same ingredients.