By Jase Walker
To say Leprous have been busy these last two years since Europe reopened the floodgates of live entertainment again is a bit of an understatement. Their almost tireless tour cycle since dropping ‘Aphelion’ – which also included a run of ‘Anthology’ shows which I was lucky enough to attend due to a scheduling issue – seems to be rounded off with this current cycle. Along with them are firm favourites of mine, Monuments and a band I’ve only heard in passing, Kalandra. Quite a varied set of bands for tonight at the Ritz in Manchester and thankfully I didn’t blow my voice out singing to Karnivool earlier this week so I’ve got the chance to ruin it trying to keep up with Einar of Leprous. Challenge accepted.
Kalandra begins with an empty stage and strings along with moody lighting before it dims and they walk on stage, this is already pretty interesting, one of the guitarists has a bow too! An overwhelmingly powerful intro that swells and covers like a warm familiar blanket, what an incredible start! This eventually gives way to stronger elements that remind me strongly of the likes of MEER or Giant Walker, soft and sweet vocals mixed with intricate guitar melodies. Kalandra have a subtle intensity to their sound, it’s not intense in the same way Monuments might be but its delivery often feels like it’s just on the precipice of collapsing into madness.
They mention they’re Norwegian and suddenly it clicks who their singer’s voice and style reminds me of, it’s Aurora! Another Norwegian singer with a similar style of soft and sweet vocals with a natural vibrato and effortless pitch climbs. At one point one of the guitarists plays what appears to be a horn of some sort, I can’t really tell but this ends up being the lead melody to a fantastic extended instrumental passage, haunting. Kalandra have genuinely taken me by surprise, their spellbinding performance has completely blown me away. I’ve spent the entirety of their set standing open mouthed in awe of it and I’m actually kicking myself for not getting myself into these sooner.
Next up tonight is one of the OG djent pioneers and riffy specialists, Monuments. Clearly I didn’t get enough of them at Academy 3 last year, it’s go time! Opening with ‘Amanuensis’ banger, ‘I, The Creator’, hell of a choice to get the show started, I just wish the venue was a bit fuller sadly! It’s of little surprise that we’re fully in the In Stasis era now and the setlist reflects that, especially in a support slot setlist where you need to get your biggest and most recent bangers out to win over potentially new fans too. ‘Leviathan’ goes down well, probably one of the strongest off ‘Phronesis’ next to ‘Stygian Blue’, with its call and response verse sections and clean chorus and managing to provoke a manic pit that I can feel through the floor!
Interestingly we get a massive throwback to ‘Gnosis’ with ‘Empty Vessels Make The Most Noise’, not going to complain about still getting tracks from that era thrown in! Continuing the trend of ‘banger after ‘banger, one of my favourites off ‘In Stasis’, ‘Cardinal Red’ that signalled that Andy Cizek had really found his place within Monuments and shows off his fantastic vocal melody style. Also big shout out to whoever is doing sound and lighting tonight because it’s absolutely fantastic how much it’s doing to really make this show brilliant. Werner is clearly having a fantastic time on stage with Monuments as well now after being confirmed as a full-time member following the departure of Adam Swan. The pit’s been consistent since ‘Leviathan’ got people properly warmed up to the idea of going a bit mad and it’s been great to watch. Monuments have put on a bloody brilliant show once again and it’s great seeing them come round again, now I just need to wait until Radar before I see them again, won’t be long!
Ever the artful ones, the intro for Leprous to walk on stage slowly swells along with lightning being put to use to add to the steady swell of noise before Einar’s unmistakable silhouette passes across the stage. Their lighting production for this show is absolutely stunning, large pillars of light that move between soft pastel colours and create a pyramid light shape behind the band. ‘The Price’ so early in the set is quite surprising though, easily my favourite song off ‘Malina’ so looking forward to the crowd chanting it’s vocal melody! And as you’d expect everyone did not disappoint, except for maybe coming in a bit too early but I don’t think that’s ever actually happened on time at any show.
As with the two prior bands tonight, the sound is absolutely outstanding, such a brilliant mix that means all of the melody rings clear, all of the low end is strongly felt in your chest and feet and Einar’s incredible voice is absolute dead centre. The way the lighting keeps dropping back to purely backlighting during some sections adds an allure to it all as well, not only does it sound beautiful, it looks every bit as gorgeous. Some of the ‘Aphelion’ songs truly showcase Einar’s unbelievable vocal ability and how effortlessly he can soar up and crash down in pitch and hearing this done live with such skill is one of the prime reasons I love seeing Leprous in person.
We’re already back in ‘Malina’ territory with ‘From The Flame’, another one of my favourites. Despite this being ‘Aphelion’ heavy we’re getting some real choice favourites from Malina tonight! If you ever want to try and keep up with Einar’s vocals though, give it a try on the chorus of ‘Alleviate’ – you can certainly try and crack your voice halfway through that dizzying pitch climb. This is probably the best performance I’ve seen of Leprous, although I feel a bit bad about Manchester’s turnout tonight and they’ve been a bit disrespectful during quiet segments which has been a bit frustrating. Leprous generally set the bar pretty high anyway and have consistently been one of the best sounding and performing bands I see regularly.
My end of year review for live shows is going to be agonizing and it’s only the start of February… bloody hell.
- All content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.