Leprous: "This album is a step towards being a bit more band-focused"

It’s a hot summer afternoon in the heart of Athens, Greece, at the historic Lycabettus theatre, and Leprous are still going through their sound check, as they’re about to share the stage with Opeth that night. After the soundcheck is done we catch up with the band’s founding member and guitarist, Tor Oddmund Shurke, backstage to talk a bit about the upcoming show and mainly about the band’s new studio album "Melodies Of Atonement". As always, Tor is super friendly and one of the nicest guys to talk with, and of course has some very interesting information and thoughts to share with us.

Tor, thank you for having us! We're very happy to have you back in Greece. I think by now you must know well that Greece loves Leprous a lot!

Yeah, definitely. I mean, Greece is by far one of the best places to go, especially when touring. And it's like Greece - and especially Athens – is one of the one of the places furthest away when we’re driving with a bus, so if it wasn't worth it we probably wouldn't go there… (laughs). Because it’s so far off, like one corner of where we're travelling. So, yeah, so Athens is definitely one of the places we prioritize to go when we tour.

Yet, tonight will be another condition because you play an open air show. First of all, in a historic place like this, it's quite different than a club show, isn’t it?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I actually wasn’t aware of this venue before we came here. So yeah, I just now realized that it's such an amazing place. And extra extraordinary scenery.

Yeah, it's been closed for 15 years or something, due to noise pollution and stuff but now it's reopened. And actually there’s a history here for this kind of music, cause in 1998 Dream Theater played here and Mike Portnoy couldn't stop telling how astonished he was by the venue…

Oh really? That's really cool.

So, it’s fit for prog… (laughs)

Yeah, definitely. That's good legacy.

One of the reasons for doing this interview is that we've heard your new album and I have to congratulate you for it. It's really nice and I can't tell that it's back to form because Leprous never actually lost their form, but to be honest I think I like it a bit more than "Aphelion"...

Yeah, that's fair… (laughs)

"Aphelion" initially was meant to be just an EP... The new album is a step towards being a bit more band-focused sound

How do you feel about "Melodies Of Atonement" as we approach the date that it’s about to be released?

I'm very happy with it. Going back to "Aphelion", I feel it was a pretty special album in many ways, because it was meant to be just an EP. We saved some songs from "Pitfalls" and we were planning to release like a smaller EP or something with 4 songs. But then, obviously, the pandemic struck. We were still planning to do the EP and we ended up going to the studio to record a bit more and then suddenly we made "Castaway Angels", so then we had five songs. And then while recording that, we suddenly had one day available in the studio, so we made another song in the studio, "All The Moments", and then we had six songs! And we were like "This isn't an EP anymore, closing into being an album", so that's when we decided to "OK, let's make three more songs". And then we made the last song in this livestream, "Nighttime Disguise". So, the funny thing with "Aphelion" compared to "Melodies Of Atonement is that the compositions, and the recordings as well, is from such a long period of time, like from all the way back to when we were making stuff for "Pitfalls" and also during the pandemic, all the way into the same year as we released it with the "Nighttime Disguise". So, that also reflects the album I think, because it's a lot more varied and it's not necessarily as connected all the songs like it is on other albums. Even though I kind of appreciated that on "Aphelion" - with it being than a much more special kind of album, and playing a lot more live in studio together as a band and making songs in the studio - now actually being able to go back to our traditional way of making an album, like planning the album and making the song so that they connect together and choosing the songs that will be this album and then recording it already prepared, kind of what we probably might end up with, it was also a nice thing to actually being able to go back to that kind of situation as well.

Well, I guess getting back to your question about what I feel about the album, it's also a step towards having a bit more band-focused sound, compared to we don't have that much like symphonic, cinematic orchestral elements this time around... Yeah, it's more like a band and kind of electronic elements, but also electronic elements that we can play live as a band. So, I'm very happy with the result.

What you just mentioned explains a lot about "Aphelion". On the other hand, "Melodies Of Atonement" I think sounds more cohesive like you've blended the metal and the rest stuff together in a more balanced way this time...

Yeah, I feel so! Because - as we've done several times before - we made a lot of sketches and after having all these kind of alternatives, we chose the ones that would be the best combination in an album. Which gives it, as you say, I guess more balance. Because on "Aphelion", obviously we wouldn't have been content with something we weren't happy with, but it was just like "OK, we made this song" and it sits on the album, not necessarily because it fits that much with all the other songs, but because it's a good song and we will have it on the album. So in a sense, I feel it's a very different album, but it definitely more, as you said, cohesive. I guess that's a good word for describing it.

Me and Robin, we fill each other out pretty well. We have two different styles of playing and it's very rarely that we play the exact same thing

Also, something that I've mentioned is that there is very detailed guitar work. You always have that detailed and different from album to album work on guitars, and I think that you've added extra flavors in playing, you and Robin. Also you've said in the past that you don't want to add a guitar solo just for the sake of it, yet you have a very nice solo on "Starlight". So how did how try to evolve your guitar playing? Cause evolving the sound of the guitars is integral in Leprous I think…

I mean, I think the evolution of the guitar sound in Leprous has been ongoing… Obviously, we started out as a youth band back in 2001 and the typical thing then is like "OK, you're playing in a metal band and you want to play the guitars? You turn up the distortion and the gain and the metal zone on to the fullest! And then after kind of maturing for a while you kind of move towards a more organic guitar sound, maybe not necessarily that meaning it can't have a lot of distortion, but kind of finding a balance. And we did that on "Malina" where went to be back on the guitar sound when it comes to distortion.

And since then, we've kind of slowly built back up into daring to have the more distorted guitars and take a lot of space on some parts and then keeping more of a background role on other parts. And I think now we've kind of ended up in a nice balance, because now on "Melodies Of Atonement", I think there's a lot of pretty harsh distorted guitars with a lot of punch and heaviness to it, but still also you have the role of the guitar on a lot of other parts which is more mellow. And it's not like in the beginning we say "OK this is the sound of the guitars on this album and then that's what we're using on the entire album". Like every single song and every single part we're fine tuning the sound, so it's the perfect blend to accentuate the details that you want to be portrayed.

With me and Robin, I think we've filled each other out pretty well, as well. We have two different styles of playing and it's very rarely that we play the exact same thing. I mean I'm more of a rhythm guitar player, he's more of a lead guitar player, but obviously sometimes it kind of intertwines a little bit and I usually do the low frequency 8 string stuff and he does the more high frequency stuff. And I think that's just become a natural way that we split in a way and I think the blend between the two styles works pretty well.

Yeah, it does. And especially on stage it shows, because it's easier to understand who plays what…

Yeah, definitely. That's true…

A lot of the songs are about being determined to atone for something, making amends or being at ease with the situation… kind of figuring out how to move on with your life after a struggle

The lyrics that you have in your songs always play an important role in Leprous’ music. So is there an underlying theme that runs through the songs of the album? Or maybe they’re connected in any other way?

It's not necessarily one holistic thought or like a concept of all the lyrics. But like it has been the last years with us, I'm not writing most of the lyrics. I still have written a few on this album but Einar writes most of them and usually when he writes them they're quite personal to him. It could be about personal struggles, or it could be maybe also just a thought on a societal thing and how to cope with the various things that has been a problem in the past.

Like to me, when I think about these "melodies of atonement", it wasn't like we said that title and then we made songs that fit with it. It's more we found that to be a suitable title, because a lot of the songs are about, I guess being determined to atone for something, making amends or being at ease with the situation, kind of figuring out how to move on with your life after a struggle. And that's what I interpreted them to be about... And to me that's something that a lot of the lyrics can be brought back to I guess. But as I said, it's not like a concept of a lyrical theme.

I'm probably one of the few persons that could also write lyrics that could make sense for Einar to sing

Yeah, but there seems to be something that connects them. That’s the overall feeling of the lyrics for me as well. You were the main lyricist up to "Malina" and then you gave the main role to Einar, so how does it feel? Do you sometimes feel the need to take back more space in writing lyrics?

No! I mean, I feel like both with compositions and with lyrics and stuff, it's always been a dynamic process, not necessarily deciding "now it will be like this", but more like just doing what feels natural in a way. And when it comes to compositions, Einar has definitely been the most driven and I guess creative, all since the beginning. But especially since we started to release albums, he's been the main composer and at some point I started to do the lyrics. It was our first bass player that usually did the lyrics and then at some point I kind of got the hang of it and I liked to do it. And also someone had to do it! (laughs)

But since Einar is the main composer in the band and also all makes the vocal lines and he sings the songs, then it kind of makes sense also that he writes lyrics as well. It wasn't like I'm owning the role of having to write the lyrics, so when he makes something and he makes some vocal lines and he gets like a thought on what could be the lyrics in these vocal lines, it just makes sense that he also then writes the lyrics. But sometimes it's usually like if he has written something and he's like "oh, I didn't really get a very significant thought about the lyrics of this song, maybe you can help?". So I've been also doing some of the lyrics on this album, more like on demand, like "maybe you can try something here?". Also, since it's quite personal lyrics and he's singing them, he needs either to have written them himself, to feel like it makes sense that he sings them. But also since I know him so well, I think I'm probably one of the few that could also write lyrics that could make sense for him to sing. It wouldn't be like whoever just writing a lyric and then he’d sing it. Because, it wouldn't feel natural for him necessarily to sing it with the vibrancy that he should.

Yeah, yeah. He makes it personal, now doubt about it! Now, if I had to choose a person favorite from the new album that would be "Faceless"? What are your favorite moments from "Melodies Of Atonement"?

It's really difficult to say because it changes all the time, to be honest. And it's kind of funny, cause when we talk about the songs within the band, we still use numbers. Because when we make sketches, we just numerate them. So to me, it's like "yeah, 17 is still my favorite" and it's like, OK, so when you say like "Faceless" which one is that again?"… (laughs) I mean actually I wrote the lyrics on "Faceless", so I remember that one.

But, I like the singles that we've released so far very much. It varies all the time and it changes a little bit which one I prefer. I think maybe just to be a bit more interesting than saying one of the two singles, I would say "Unfree My Soul", which is actually a pretty nice track…

I think a lot of people that only have heard the singles that we're releasing, they will be surprised, because they’re not the most different ones on the album

Yeah! The closing track…

Yeah, the closing track. The guitars in the beginning, which is Robin playing it just has a different vibe to it. But, then again all of them can fit in like certain situations. I think they work very well listening them from the beginning to the end, because of the cohesion that was mentioned before, it's a nice journey start to finish.

It is!

Yeah, I think so. I think a lot of people that only have heard the singles that we're releasing, they will be surprised if they think "oh, it's only like this now". Because they’re not the most different ones on the album. They're quite like perched and heavy metal. But I think people could be surprised when they hear the rest of the songs. They’ll be pleasantly surprised hopefully!

So do you already know when you coming back to Greece? Because, it pretty sure you're coming back for a proper club show...

Yeah, yeah, definitely! Actually, I'm not really sure yet. We just announced some pretty big shows that we're doing in Europe in the spring, so that's going to be like the first kind of main "Melodies Of Atonement" shows in in Europe. I guess we'll wait and see, because now we're starting touring in the US after this tour, in the fall.

Prog or Pop?

Pop

Meshuggah or Massive Attack?

Massive Attack..

A Club show or a festival slot?

A club show

Unplugged or plugged?

Plugged?

A good guitar riff or a nice solo?

Guitar riff!

Greek island or Fjord for vacation?

Greek island! I'm going to Crete this summer, so yeah, I guess it says it all… I can live in the fiord by the Ford. Then I can go for vacation on the island.

Warm or cold?

Warm

Airplane or train?

Train

Pizza or burger?

That's a very difficult one… pizza.

Cat person or dog person?

Cat! Actually to be honest, I'm both. But, usually if you're a dog person, you're only into dogs. I'm into cats and I also like dogs. But I would rather have a cat than a dog…

Wine or Beer?

Beer

Before or after the show?

After!