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After Subliritum, I am not leaving Norway (My home sweet home is here, deep in the forest...), but I am now approaching some progressive shores with Leprous. “Bilateral”, mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren, breathes and sweats THE progressive, worshiping the best influences but creative and modern as well.

Each song shows a different facet of this demanding style, brilliantly known by the band, despite the youth of its members. The long piece “Forced Entry” is a triumphant illustration of this fact, where Symphony X music (not voice) is not so far away and where Einar Solberg’s singing does so well, as his keyboards. He is not a force of nature like Russell Allen but he surely has something.

And the other guys? Well, Tobias Ørnes Andersen (drums), Rein Blomquist (bass), Tor Oddmund Suhrke and Øystein Landsverk (guitars) entertain you. I am not talking about circus or easy listening radio s...t. I mean they give you real pleasure for ear, heart and soul (whatever you call it...) with hand-sewn compositions.

Talking about pleasure, guess who is guest on the excellent “Thorn”? Mister Vegard Sverre Tveitan aka Ihsahn, Notodden’s neighbor, former Emperor’s backbone (“Teach me the Tongue of Fire!”), creator in different bands and last but not the least, genius in my humble opinion on “The Adversary”, “angL” and “After”.

“Bilateral” should please many of us, from simple music amateurs who would to like to discover progressive metal, to the most enthusiastic but also hard to please fans of this genre.

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