Live report LEPROUS, MONUMENTS & KALANDRA, Gruenspan, Hamburg – February 3rd, 2023

It is a stormy day when Leprous, together with Monuments and Kalandra visit the Hanseatic city. Nevertheless, many fans find their way to the Gruenspan to witness a very varied musical evening.

‘Variety’ is certainly the motto for this evening, because there are very diverse bands that perform one after the other, which is also reflected in the audience. From esoteric resonating end-fifties, via young metalcore fans to music nerds in turtlenecks, a very broad audience is present, which is of course due to the bands.

The first act is Kalandra. The band comes from Oslo, Norway and plays a mixture of ethereal rock, which also includes heavier elements and is spiced with a sprinkling of nordic folk. The mix is quite interesting, as it reminds us of the latest releases of Myrkyr, at least as far as the basic approach of the four Norwegians is concerned. Musically sophisticated, the band matches the headliner in a way, even if both don’t work on exactly the same musical genre. After 30 minutes, Kalandra are bid farewell with due applause and make the stage available for the second support act of this evening.

Monuments are both visually and musically the complete opposite of Kalandra. Although all bands have a certain progressive approach to their music, the four Englishmen present it loud and hard. As one of the up-and-coming bands in the English djent scene, the audience gets hard riffs blown into their ears. Here, frontman Andy Cizek is the linchpin. With an unbelievable energy he is constantly in motion and screams his soul out while kneeling on stage. That Cizek also works with clean vocals and melodies too is also shown in the course of the set.

Monuments play for the first time in Hamburg and it is amazing that the band already has an amazing number of fans, after all, about a third of those present have already seen the band live. The fans definitely like what they get to see and hear, responding with jumping and clapping. Thus, Monuments are the ideal warm-up act for Leprous, who come on stage next.

Leprous combines musical skills and songwriting finesse. Not surprisingly, the Norwegians have a very tight sound tonight and perform their songs with precision.

After Gothenburg and Copenhagen, today’s show is only the third one of a long tour and yet the band is already well-rehearsed. And since Hamburg is not in Scandinavia, there is no need to wonder whether singer Einar Solberg makes his announcements in Norwegian or English. Of course they are in English, although there is the humorous moment when Solberg asks “How do you feel tonight’ and a loud “Yeah” comes back from the audience. Well, for the front man that is not the exact answer to the question and with a smile he changes the question to “Are you doing OK tonight” and all of a sudden the loud “Yeah” that echoes back to him fits.

Leprous have packed a total of 14 songs on the setlist, with the last album ‘Aphelion’ in the center of attention. Among them is ‘Castaway Angel’, which is dedicated to “the brave people of the Ukraine”.

Leprous masters the quieter sounds as well as the heavier approach. With ‘From the Flames’ the audience claps along eagerly and with the massive ‘Slaves’ Leprous prove that they also have the aggressive riffs in their portfolio. Suddenly headbanging is on the agenda, which is also good for the evening and leads to scene applause.

This evening was a kind of musical kaleidoscope with many different music movements. Nevertheless, or just because of that, it was an entertaining way to spend a Friday evening and everyone present had certainly found what for he/she had taken the way to the Gruenspan.