Artist: Lantos
Title: Agape
Type: Album
Label: Prophecy

The post-black metal wheels continue to turn with not a hint of diminishing interest in this burgeoning ‘sub’-subgenre and it seems only fitting that lauded duo Lantlos (comprising of Herbst on instrumentation and the omnipresent Neige of Alcest/Amesoeurs on vocals) release their anticipated follow-up to 2009’s melancholy ‘Neon’ opus. Forgoing the forests, mists and wistfulness approach of many of their reflective shoegazey brethren, Lantlos instead focus on weaving a denser, more urban atmosphere shot through with a palapable sense of claustrophobia and nighttime metropolitan angst.

In this, their approach has always been somewhat unique and never more so than on ‘Agape’ – compared to the delicate, folksy musings of Agalloch et all, this stuff is crushing and discordant. Herbst has downtuned his strings considerably so that when the songs finally unleash, there’s a genuine sense of Neurosis-esque all-consuming weight behind the riffing, Neige’s vocals spewing a hoarse keen of rage and despair. By post-black metal standards, the opening few minutes of ‘Intrauterin’ are frankly terrifying – massive-sounding and charged with feeling. When the distortion fades away, the more laid-back passages take on a jazzy hue, conjuring up images of smoky bourbon dens much in the same way as Bohren and Der Club of Gore or Bark Psychosis at their most introverted. The cold melancholy of ‘Agape’s predecessor is still present but this record is definitely a more wounded beast, the discordance more pronounced, the pensive, sombre moments sparser.

As ever, the transition from the metallic to the reflective can be sudden and jarring – the lurching, megalithic riffs of the strongest track ‘Bliss’ for example judder to a complete stop, allowing meandering piano and shuffling percussion to take over. It too suffers from it’s predecessor’s slightly fragmentary nature insomuch that there are times when you wish that Herbst would lock into a particular groove or feeling for a little longer before switching styles – the danger here is that what once were unpredictable shifts in tone can ironically end up becoming predictable in themselves. There’s also a worrying habit of noodling creeping into the mix with the song ‘You Feel Like Memories’ presenting little more than a bluesy instrumental bedroom jam, the ideas and melodies simply not arresting enough to justify dedicating a whole song to them. With only five tracks and a running time of under forty minutes, whilst ‘Agape’ provides some moments of profound impact, its fractured nature and short running time can’t help but leave a vague sense of dissatisfaction once the final bass notes of ‘Eribo – I Collect the Stars’ subside. If the duo can harness their undoubted moments of inspiration more effectively and rein in the propensity to meander, a true classic you feel would be within their grasp but as it stands, ‘Agape’ leaves the listener somewhat undernourished.

http://www.lantlos.com

Frank Allain

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