EINAR SOLBERG – Vox Occulta

RELEASE YEAR: 2026
BAND URL: https://einarsolberg.com/

If has become increasingly clear over the last decade, it’s that Einar Solberg has long since outgrown the role of merely being the frontman of Leprous. And from my side that is a nice surprise as I struggled to get into a good deal of the band’s releases since…what feels like forever now. Yet, giving Vox Occulta a try was a really reqarding experience.

On Vox Occulta, Einar’s second solo effort, he doesn’t just step outside the framework of his main band—he practically shatters most stereotypes the and replaces them with a film score written in tones of anxiety, grandeur and self-reflection. It didn’t tale me long to ‘Wow’ once the album started flowing through the headset.

Recorded alongside the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the album was conceived as a heavy, cinematic and symphonic statement rather than a collection of experiments. Solberg himself has described it as a more sharpened artistic vision, with orchestration serving as the foundation rather than decoration. That ambition is audible from the opening moments. Strings surge and collapse like storms, choirs emerge from all corners like distant apparitions. Even the quiet passages feel loaded with tension and beautifully builds up on top of what’s already there.

There is a lot of emotion, spawned from blends of contrasting – but well paired – massive orchestral arrangements with Solberg’s unmistakable voice, which remains one of progressive music’s most expressive instruments, voice that dances from something angelic one moment and completely unhinged the next, often within the same phrase. What makes Vox Occulta particularly compelling is that the orchestral component rarely feels like a gimmick. It’s nicely balanced, drama level is well achieved and also left behind when needed to soften out. There’s no struggle to stand out, but rather to offer a beautiful result as a whole.

While certain passages will surely have (or already had) people draw comparisons to Leprous’ music, I think this release should be enjoyed and digested as a whole with a larger vision than another usual release with songs that didn’t make it on the band’s catalogue. It all manages to balance progressive complexity, symphonic drama and emotional vulnerability with remarkable confidence. With a personal story that somehow speaks to you in the background. I haven’t fully gotten to it yet, there’s lots of spins left for me for this album, to be able to go beyond the many layers of grand symphonies and touching melodies and then to figure out what the lyrics are about.

A step towards a musical maturity for Einar’s career, a very nice surprise for me and hopefully for many listeners out there. While I used the AI to initially do some research and then I ditched that as it was too impersonal, I might have to go back to it and see if it can dig out the story of the album. Probably doable with just a usual search at the end of the day. And maybe I should have done it before writing the review, but I wanted the review to be based on the impressions caused by the music only. I did find myself mixing whatever emotions a story left on me with the content of an album and chose not to do it here. The point is, this majestic piece must be quite the journey for Einar, personally and professionally and I’m glad I got to witness this outcome.