LEPER: This Next Song is About Death
For those who don’t know, Leper is an immensely dark, heavy gothic rock band, based out of JPUSA in Chicago. This is about as far from pop music as you can get without going into extreme metal. While this release actually came out in 2019, the band recently reached out for coverage, and since we hadn’t reviewed it yet, then . . . why not?
The band seems to be tapping into their Celtic ancestry here, as the song titles are given both in English as well as Scots Gaelic. I don’t have a press kit with the release, so I’m not able to discern any deeper reasoning behind the decision, and most of the lyrics are in English too (except for the opening track, which features the Lord’s Prayer in Scots Gaelic), so it’s hard to say what the motive was.
The album opens with “Prayer of the Lord,” dark and brooding, a classic gothic song with symphonic instruments, and the aforementioned prayer. Next is “Where is Thy Sting,” a heavier track with distorted guitars, flutes, and heavy synths. This one is very dark and heavy and features some interesting layered vocal tracks. “Skeleton Hands” opens with a strummed acoustic guitar, and pairs male and female vocals. It’s more upbeat than the first 2 songs.
“13 Silver Bullets” slows things down again with a haunting and dissonant guitar intro, giving way to a full-on goth rock opus (think Sisters of Mercy or Fields of the Nephilim). “Beneath the Sun” brings back the acoustic guitar (it might even be a classical guitar) and features a creative mix of varied vocal styles: strong male vox, soft female vox, harsh sounds, and even gang/shouted vocals, a rarity for the gothic genre.
Next up is “Good Night,” an almost traditional rock/alternative song, with a tambourine and upbeat temp. Reminds me a tiny bit of Love and Rockets’ more accessible material. Aptly named “The Dark One” is another dark, truly gothic tune with haunting but strong vocals, with some effective female vocals hovering in the background. There’s also an eerie keyboard effect that creates the impression of someone moaning.
“Changeling” sadly, is a miss. While the message of needing mercy—and finding it via prayer—is good. The chant comes across as a little silly, which is a shame, but it almost works, but in the end it’s too cheesy. “Watch the Romance Die” is a stronger tune with nice guitar work—once again tapping into their dark and brooding vibe, paired with mid-tempo rhythms.
The final three tracks really bring the dark gothic vibe. “Gathering Darkness” starts with some funereal organ and clean guitar and creeps along at a snail’s pace. “Out of This Pit” carries on the doom and gloom but adds a noisy and dissonant guitar track with a somber feel overall. It’s a very effective technique and creates an atmosphere like that of a soundtrack to a reflective-traumatic scene in a scary movie. These two tunes, in particular, drive home the overall theme of the album, as focused on reflections about death. The album closes with gothic worship tune, “You Are Holy,” featuring guest vocals by Wretched Graverobber.
While not metal, this album is one of the heavier things I’ve heard recently. Some might find these 12 songs that are “About Death” to be a little too much, but if Christians can’t talk about death, then who can?
4/5
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