There have been sea changes equally enormous and beard-stroking in the black metal camp during the past decade. Revered master of darkness Ihsahn and bands such as Enslaved have shifted into prog’s distinctly capacious and evolutional dominion. Leprous are very much at the forefront of this movement. They are accompanied by the eerie duskiness of 90s black metal but also find room to incorporate the likes of King Crimson, plus prog’s 80s eccentricities. Ihsahn in particular has proven the driving, influential force behind the band.
“Of course we were very inspired by what he did, and we’re big fans of Emperor,” explains frontman Einar Solberg of his friend and fellow musician. “And now we know each other so well, we have quite a lot of the same ideas. For example, our album is titled Coal, and Ihsahn said, ‘That was what I was supposed to call my album’.”
