Angel of Death

So Leprosy are a melodic black metal concept from Mexico. I want to mention early-on, that they have Death's album title as their own band name. And they also have Slayer's song title as their album title, too. Seems kind of weird, especially with artwork that came out of something that Dimmu Borgir would have likely used themselves. One more thing I'd like to mention, is that I had high-hopes about this album, based on appearance alone...and let me tell you, I was wrong, very wrong. And it's such a shame, because it doesn't exactly have a "promising" vibe. But of course, this album doesn't suck as much as Burzum's "Dauði Baldrs" release from the late '90's. I haven't seemed to have used that as reference for awhile, in regards to bad albums.

So, what you may find yourselves in this release, is some half-decent quality for the production of the songs. I've heard worse, way worse. But this album seems to sound like a potato. Not a fresh one either, but one that's starting to grow mold. That's never a good sign either. It's got its share of "fogginess" to it. Which, you know, is kind of sad for this being a modern-day release from 2020. You might as well just drink poison instead of putting your ears through a lot of bullshit. But maybe I'm being a bit too harsh on this album? Yeah, that must be it! I'll do my best to explain for good points in this release, but it won't be easy to pamper this release with words and opinions of mine. But, I will say the track entitled "No Exit" is a great early piece in the band's track-listing that captures pure melodic-themed goodness. It's like listening to gentle guitar-based strumming that you'd likely hear in something resembling the original Dark Shadows (if they weren't so orchestral-based, that is) series. Same with "In Void", too.

Most of the instrumentals themselves (the songs that feature vocals, I mean), guitars, bass, drums, you know, the usual... Are generally, overly-filled with fast-paced, thrash-infused madness. It's almost a bit, well, bland to say the least. I feel most riffs in this album are very unoriginal, rushed, poor and aren't very engaging, but quite wild. It would realistically become easy to get bored of this album. But if you're someone who happens to enjoy stale bread, then be my guest and please bore yourselves to death. The guitars are quite distorted, the bass is a bit weak and the damn drums have a very dull production. They, to me, sound really randomised and are constantly being pounded. From time-to-time, some of the guitar-based work can break some fancy, medium-pitched melodies on the songs that happen to feature vocals.

The vocals sound so much like that guy from Dimmu Borgir, then again, a lot of modernised subgenres of black metal seem to sound like him. In some cases, I think some other vocalists sound better than the individuals they resemble. But this isn't the case either this time. In fact, I think he does it worse. I don't feel that this band are very good at creating music. However, I do think the artwork is very good. It's what caught my attention toward this album, primarily. It's just a fucking calamity the rest of the album doesn't seem to endorse the same promise as the visuals do! I also want to mention that, in some cases, the singer sounds like a pig squealing...gee, isn't that odd for melodic black metal? Maybe they should have tried slam first?

Overall, I could potentially give this album another listen again. But I doubt my thoughts will change. But the artwork seems alluring, and that's enough for me to give this record any attention. Not that it'll ever really receive more than what it currently gets, which is probably less than what the band expects from people. The only songs that showed enough interest for me, were the following "No Exit", "In Void" and finally, "Castles of Endless Torment" (the one track with vocals, what a surprise!). Everything else, as a whole, seemed far too "busy", "angry", "wild", "random", "boring", "stale", "unoriginal" and just simply "unengaging", entirely. The music industry is a tough business, and it's even tougher when you're untalented.

Almost a complete waste of effort and listen, if not for a few in-depth, melodic, decently-constructed, songs saving this album's ass. If these guys plan on staying in the scene for awhile, I got some advice; if this is all you got, don't bother tangling with another release, because you fellas had a pretty horrid start. Staying at this level of creativity could land you into deeper pits of shit. There just isn't really anymore that I can go on about. What else can I say...? Oh right, nothing!