Review Summary: A loud and bombastic prog metal album with Ghost-esque pop elements.
I’m coming into this review excited. Firstly, because this would be my first review of a second consecutive LP from a prog metal artist. Secondly, Naturealism marks somewhat of a sweet spot in Egor Lappo’s career as it is a synthesis of elements from his previous album Trancevoicer and from his first two albums. And in preparation for this review, I did myself the favor of doing an Egor Lappo marathon of his musical works.
His debut album, Way Without Light may be produced somewhat amateurishly but features some seriously admirable technical ability in his guitar solos, djent-y breakdowns, and synth-driven wankery. This is followed by his sophomore and easily my favorite Egor Lappo album Azimuth which is a little bit more subdued as far as his technical showmanship goes but features some very well-written songs with great use of dynamics between the atmospheric post-rock sections, and creative, angular prog-metal (Devin Townsend/Dream Theater inspired) riffs. His sophomore album puts his modern work into perspective because what followed was a massive shift in his aesthetic with Trancevoicer. This album from 2021 took a massive 180 into the pop-prog direction with a large focus on catchy, down-right luminous guitar chords and colorful synth melodies. This album was essentially all about spacey hooks which also included an improvement in Lappo’s vocal abilities. And in hindsight, I think I underrated this album by a small margin. One year later, Egor Lappo continues on his pop-rock trajectory with Naturealism.
This album infuses the guitar techniques of his first two albums, which include more prog metal guitar riffs, post-rock guitar padding, and the occasional djent interlude, and combines them with the catchy, pop-oriented direction of Trancevoicer. What you’ll get here are ten, chorus-driven, single-esque tracks with surrounding progressive metal instrumental elements. I think this question will likely determine whether or not you’ll like this album: “What are your opinions on the new Ghost album?”
Yeah, it is a coincidence that these two albums came out around the same time but they have fairly similar aesthetic approaches, Naturealism being a lot more prog/synth-driven of the two. I can certainly appreciate a well-written chorus which one can find in tracks like “Dawn Tracer”, “Starlight”, and “Forgone Future”. Most of the tracks also have your patented, Marillion-esque, Egor Lappo synths which bring on the 70s space-pop vibes. These are layered with low-tuned, often chuggy prog metal riffs from the rhythms guitar sections. While these add a darker contrast to the vocal and synth passages, they unfortunately sound very ordinary for underground prog metal standards and are not very memorable.
One aspect that I can’t bear not to mention in this review is how loud it is. I get that this might be meant to be the grandiose counterpart to Trancevoicer but this album becomes quickly tiring for my ears to listen to. As opposed to Lappo’s past albums, this lacks subtlety and does not capitalize as much on dynamics which would make it easier to digest in one sitting. On top of this, I cannot for the life of me get past the constant blaring guitar padding which holds most of this album hostage; it's like taking the padding from your typical post-rock crescendo and layer it over half of the album. I did what I can to experiment with different headphones as well but my experience is similar. In general, I would say this album’s lack of dynamic shifts and quieter parts, hurts the melodic moments because you don’t give the listener places to appreciate emphasis. Hence, the peaks become less impactful.
Overall, this is somewhat of a shame because looking through Egor Lappo’s previous work as a music artist, I was more than impressed with what he is capable of as a solo artist. He has a great vocal range which is not utilized as much on this album. Lappo has also shown he is good with sonic dynamics and has written longer, more complex songs in the past. Not much of this was showcased in Naturealism. As harsh as my criticism sounds, this is still a decent album if you’ve been on the hunt for more pop-prog metal stuff like Voyager’s new album. I admit that this album might just not be for me but it might be better for you.
Attribution: https://theprogressivesubway.com/2022/04/08/review-egor-lappo-naturealism/
