Einar Solberg reworks Leprous's The Congregation for voice and piano

(Image credit: Elena Sihida)

Leprous frontman Einar Solberg has announced that he will release a reworking of the band's 2015 album The Congregation, for just voice and piano, as The Congregation Acoustic through InsideOut Music on February 16.

At the same time he has released a video of him performing the song The Flood, which you can watch in full below.

Solberg who released his debut solo album 16 earlier this year, performed the acoustic The Congregation for a special live stream at the beginning of 2022, from where the new recording comes form.

"I'm both super excited but also kind of terrified for me to release this live version of The Congregation," Solberg says. "It's raw and unedited and exactly how I did it on my livestream. Usually all musicians these days (myself included) are used to fixIng stuff in post-production, but on this one we've done nothing! I think it's cool sometimes to dare to show a more fragile and less 'perfect' side of yourself. The Congregation is probably the least suitable album we've ever done to make an acoustic version of, but I think it turned out surprisingly OK!"

The Congregation Acoustic will be released as a limited edition CD digipak, limited gatefold 180g black vinyl 2LP and as a digital album. The cover artwork was shot by Elena Sihida, which you can see below.

Solberg will appear as a solo artist at Spain's Rock Imperium in Cartagena on June 19 and France's Hellfest on June 28. Leprous will tour Europe in February and March.

Pre-order The Congregation Acoustic.

Artists

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.