Leprous / Wheel
The Regent, Los Angeles, CA – April 8, 2025
Images and Words by Kyle Grave
In the 1980’s prog rock went pop. Largely gone were the days of long songs, intricate arrangements & virtuoso musicianship.
Prog metal was in the embryonic stages with architects Fates Warning & Queensryche literally writing the rule book. Dream Theater’s debut landed in 1989 and from there prog metal branched into many styles throughout the 90’s. Carrying the mantel, bands like Haken, Caligula’s Horse and indeed Leprous have introduced this genre to younger audiences and they were out in full force tonight in Los Angeles.
If one could define the Leprous sound, “dissonant, disparate & yet excruciatingly beautiful tension” gets you about halfway there. Add in melancholic melodies, powerful emotion & guttural screams and the awesome power of this band was on full display for the LA prog metal faithful this night. The congregation gathered at the Regent Theater and, appropriately, were rewarded with a front-to-back performance of their seminal album The Congregation which turned 10 years old in 2025.
Unfortunately due to the notorious LA traffic, we arrived in time to only see the final song from opening band Wheel. The venue was already packed and the crowd clearly was familiar with this Finnish prog band. They sounded very true to the album and with arms raised, it was clear Wheel already had fans in the West Coast. A perfect pairing in sound & style with the headliners.
At 8:45 Leprous entered the stage. From the roar, it was apparent these were not the uninitiated out to see a random concert on a Friday night. No, this was a Leprous crowd! With mic in hand, frontman Einar Solberg walked to the edge of the stage to command this audience & we were captivated for nearly 2 hours.
Kicking off with the 1-2-3 punch of The Price, Third Law and Rewind, all the hallmarks of their unique sound are here: synth pop, syncopated, staccato guitars, huge call and response choruses, ambient keys, throbbing bass lines, soaring vocals and dizzying drum patterns. As a special treat, Dirk Verbeuren from Megadeth joined (and then replaced!) Baard on the drums for Rewind, never missing a beat.
In the early 90’s, drummers like Mike Portnoy, Danny Carey, Mark Zonder & Bobby Jarzombek helped define prog metal drumming. Baard Kolstad has taken the ball and run at least 3 football fields further. The uniqueness of his drumming is at once subtle & yet simultaneously mind bendingly complex. He seems constantly in danger of not landing on the “1” and yet he never misses it. His live performances are absolutely captivating & it’s honestly hard to take your eyes off him.
This band is incredibly tight live, but more than just technical ability, they genuinely seem to have FUN together onstage. Einar jokingly said “all the bangers are at the beginning of this album”, but as they blazed thru the remainder of The Congregation there was never an exodus to the bar or bathrooms. They were joyously celebrating this album & we were all there for it.
As if that entire album weren’t enough, the band came back to encore with Nighttime Disguise, Below, From the Flame & Atonement. Down to the last note, Einar wrung every drop of emotion out of his vocals & emptied himself on that stage. From deep bellows to ear piercing falsetto he truly is a singular talent amongst today’s metal vocalists. With the excellent Melodies of Atonement coming out nearly a year ago, we can only hope Leprous is well underway writing new music for their devoted fans worldwide.
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