After having played a first show of this year in Tokyo, Japan, Norwegian prog metallers Leprous are kicking off a tour of Australia today in support of their newest studio album, The Congregation, which was released worldwide via InsideOutMusic last May. More shows have now been confirmed for the band's international touring schedule of this year, find their itinerary at this location.

Leprous have been nominated for the Spellemannprisen, the Norwegian Grammy award, for their latest album The Congregation in the category "Best Metal Album" alongside Enslaved, Tsjuder and Kampfar. The ceremony takes place in Oslo, Norway tomorrow, January 30th/

Einar Solberg (vocals, synth) commented about the band's nomination: "The Congregation has been well approved by both fans, press, our label(s), agents, promoters a.o., but it's something special to receive recognition from Norway's most important music award! Ever since I was a kid, I've been watching Spellemannsprisen on the television, so it's quite surrealistic that we're suddenly one of the nominees. For us it's a big thing. just to be nominated, but of course we wound't have anything against it, landing in our camp."

Leprous' Tor Oddmund Suhrke and Baard Kolstad are featured on the third episode of FreqsTV’s original series, Into the Machine. They discuss how the band’s writing process has changed over the years and the attentiveness of prog fans.

The series, presented by Germany’s Metal Hammer, will feature a different band every Thursday on the official FreqsTV YouTube channel.

(Photo - Tor Gunnar Berland / Stella Pictures)