Apoch's Metal Review - Lantlôs: .Neon CD Review

Discography	Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed.
Full-Length(s):	Lantlôs (2008) • .Neon (2010) • Agape (2012)
Demo(s):	Îsern Himel - Demo 2005-2007 (2008)

Review

Lantlôs isn't like one of the many Post-Black Metal acts that bring Shoegaze into play. In fact, this two piece from Germany bring in a whole other level of the Post-Black Metal atmosphere thanks to bringing in something new that the quickly filling Shoegaze push can't really offer. Instead, Lantlôs wind up bringing in some often intense, high-speed Black Metal that is incorporated with traditional Rock, as well as what appears to be simple, slow-paced Jazz fusion at times. In the end, all of this works together to create a very different type of Post-Black Metal release.

While .Neon has a rather raw production quality, and not just a digital recording muffled in post-production like some bands in this style seem to do. This really does help the overall atmosphere of the album, which, thanks to the slower Rock and Jazz-like moments, as well as angry Black Metal, all of which gives a depressive atmosphere to the album that reflects the band's name perfectly, which translates to "without homeland" or "homeless". The first track, "Minusmensch", starts the album off a bit rough due to the fact that the guitars and drums don't synch up that well and wind up clashing with each other thanks to a stronger Rock influence here then on any other track. However, the overall atmosphere of the song gets your prepared for what's to come, which is a superb album that transitions between the slower paced Rock moments and the angrier, speedier Black Metal sections that seem be lost in many Post recordings of this nature.

While some tracks really are more of a light Rock atmosphere that winds up transitioned well into and out of the heavier moments, there are also some Jazz sounding aspects to the release, such as the dramatically slow aspects of "Minusmensch" and "Pulse/Surreal", the latter containing suiting clean singing to effectively push the depressive mood of the recording. These Jazz moments are often very slow and are mostly strung along simply by three, maybe for notes strung together, much of the time in a similar fashion a previous song did. However, while this may seem repetitive, it's how effectively they are blended in or built up. In the case of "Pulse/Surreal", the song starts off with one of these simple Jazz riffs that will sound much like the one that "Minusmensch" utilizes. However, in this track, this is built upon more and goes into a slower paced light Rock atmosphere while still retaining the Jazz aspect in the background, to which it is built up into a high-speed Black Metal song while the light Rock guitars that made up the song play in the background, making this track one of the best on the album, and one of the most enjoyable representations of what this band is successfully accomplishing on this release.

It's at this point that .Neon really picks up and stays rather consistent in the ground that "Pulse/Surreal" covers more so than the two tracks before it, however just not the actual structure of the song, as the latter songs typically have more of a traditional composition to them then just building from one end of the spectrum up. Out of the remaining tracks, "Coma" is perhaps the next best composition off the entire album and finds the band utilizing a slower Black Metal pace instead of just hammering away at the drums in a quickened pace and having the guitars follow suit. This really works well to create some variety for the release, which it sadly was starting to lack at that point. The same can be said for much of the title track, "Neon", which is another slower paced track that is rich with Black Metal guitar distortion and atmospherical traits to create yet another depressive track, and the perfect closer to such a dark and dismal release, as if the album had finally come to terms with its self and left much of the anger that resided in the metal aspects of this release behind.

.Neon is a fantastic, well composed album that takes things up to a whole other level for the Post-Black Metal style of song writing, and while it start off a bit rocky, even those seemingly out-of-place tracks wind up suiting the entire album at the end. Whether this was intentional or not isn't really the question, but rather a question of how can this band top an effort such as this. Seemingly dancing on the borders of three style quite different from each, Lantlôs have managed to create what could easily be one of the most impressive efforts for this brand of metal, not just in musical composition and transitions, but as a whole with the atmosphere and how everything works together with the band's name and approach. If you're looking to experiment within the Black Metal sub-genres, then take a second to look at .Neon by Lantlôs, as this release, despite it's faults, is a beautiful opus that must be heard.

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	Digital review copy of this release provided by: Prophecy Records.

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