This German act caught the attention of many with their second album .neon due to the fact that Alcest singer Neige joined them and they forged a not dissimilar path with their post black flavoured output. However, one had a feeling that main artist Markus Siegenhort was always going to shed his chrysalis and form into another type of colourful creature which he had truly done by 2014 release ‘Melting Sun,’ playing more of a dreampop style that flirted with Indie rock sensibilities. I had caught them live with Fen at the tale end of the year before too at their debut UK show and noted that they still retained a lot of the heaviness of the past but were very much in a transitional phase. Now that seems to be fully realised after a further gap of seven years which sees Siegenhort doing things much more on his own terms along with drummer Felix Wylezik. Indeed, the label blurb defines this new evolution as alternative metal and goes to mention bands such as Smashing Pumpkins and The Foo Fighters in their write up. The latter would have normally meant instant deletion of a promo and it certainly saw other writers avoiding this one like the … Still past and all that, I thought I owed Lantlos a listen and just hoped they had not gone too far down the road of no return.
The first track here was ventured before I downloaded and it has to be said ‘Lake Fantasy’ is one hell of a tune. It has catchy synthwave keys and a hugely melodious temperament which proved addictive on the first listen. Somewhat dour yet also upbeat and hopeful in mood it’s a song that will hook the listener no matter what genres you like and should appeal to just about everyone including those who are looking for some sunshine and hoping the clubs in Ibiza are open. Check the video out below and see just what I mean. Having such a great song at the start means Lantlos may find it difficult to keep consistency up over another 11 numbers and I have to admit that over repeated plays it remains by far the favourite song on the album. From there we go to ‘Magnolia’ which is very much in the progressive mould and consolidates on a couple of other artists mentioned by the PR. The first is Devin Townsend and it truly floats butterfly like from that aforementioned chrysalis with some djenty bounces that would not be out of place on a DTB album. The second is due to the clean vocal harmonics that spread through the album as a whole and have that clean Beach Boys surfing vibe about them which I found favourably recreated by Ulver circa their Blood Inside album. As we bounce away onto ‘Cocoon Tree’ this strikes as very much more accessible than anything else Lantlos have done. A catch up with ‘Melting Sun’ whilst aptly melting in the sun proved songs there were somewhat insular and lengthy but here, they are stripped down and border much more as rock numbers with plenty of pop like accessibility to them. This is an album for the forward-thinking metal head prepared to take a chance and go with the flow and has a huge crossover potential as it straddles a delicate dividing line between genre.
There’s both experimentation and shoegazing aspects to add flavours and its all quite natural sounding, obviously painstakingly put together over a long period of time. At times you will drift away carried on the fragrant perfume of the songs (if that doesn’t sound too pretentious) and at others the rhythmic thrusting and harder edges will have you nodding your head along in appreciation. The solid production really has those juddering beats sticking out and it sounds excellent. I guess ‘Vertigo’ which has a Nirvana like bounce at start could be part of the reason a certain band is mentioned but to me I am more at home with memories of bands such as Levitation and Ride especially when it is enthused by some errant psychedelia.
This album has to a large extent taken me out my comfort zone and at 51 minutes there were times that I felt a bit of trimming could have been in order. Instrumental ‘Cloud Inhaler’ for instance breaks up the flow a little too much and the clean poppy vocals can become a little twee at times but there is a lot of spirit here and who can deny an artist doing what they want and clearly enjoying it on their own terms. I have a feeling some may find this bordering on genius but I’m not getting carried away on the mark that it’s getting and appreciate there are many that will quickly turn this off and not engage with it in the slightest. I have only just realised that there is an expanded edition with a 14-track bonus CD Glitchking included. We did not get access to those tracks and I am quite happy to have left Wildhund without that to travel through too.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply