(Andy Synn has a long history with Lantlôs, and that continues on their new album, out 03 April)
As we have seen so far this week, there are Black Metal bands, and there are Post-Black Metal bands… and then there are bands like Lantlôs who used to belong to the second category (and were, in fact, a seminal part of its genesis and evolution) but who are now truly “post” Black Metal, in the most literal sense of the term.
Though, to be fair, that’s been true for a while, with 2014’s Melting Sun (still a huge favourite of mine) and then 2021’s even more provocatively poppy (but still absolutely stunning) Wildhund (which earned a spot in my Critical Top Ten) demonstrating that Lantlôs, aka Markus Siegenhort, have long since shed any remnants of their old skin in favour of a kaleidoscopic rainbow of shades and colours that has more in common with – among others – the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins, Deftones, Foo Fighters, and Devin Townsend.
And, wouldn’t you know it, on Nowhere In Between Forever they’re at it again.
This time around there’s even more of a nostalgic, 90s era sheen to songs like “Daisies” and “Oxygen” – two of the album’s earlist, and most instantly (and insistently) infectious, highlights – one that draws clear (and clearly intentional) comparisons to bands like Therapy? and Feeder, with maybe even an inkling of influence from the likes of Kerbdog or (during the record’s more Shoegaze-y moments) Catherine Wheel here and there too.
But while these influences, inspirations, and maybe even accidental sonic similarities, are certainly worth noting – particularly if you’re the sort of listener hoping for a return to the sound of albums like .Neon and Agape, which this most definitely is not – they also don’t tell the whole story (especially since I haven’t even mentioned the increased inclusion of glitchy electro-beats on songs such as “AutoGuard” and “Ghost”, which continue the slow but steady merging of Siegenhort’s side-projects and outside interests into his main output).
If anything, the resultant amalgam of proggy Pop Rock and dreamy Alt Metal resembles nothing so much as a long-lost Porcupine Tree album (circa-Stupid Dream) as written by Devin Townsend during one of his most provocatively poppy periods, especially during such major stand-outs as the aforementioned opener – which is all big riffs, glistening melodies, and shamelessly radio-friendly hooks – the shimmering, synth-heavy atmospherics and simmering electronics of “Solar Death”, and the captivating, end-credits catharsis of “Planets”.
And while the album overall doesn’t quite manage to reach the same spellbinding heights as its dynamic (if divisive) predecessor – or, not as consistently, at least, as I’d argue that the stand-out songs mentioned just above, as well as the brooding, Deftones-esque “Clockworks”, are more than a match for Wildhund‘s best and brightest moments – there’s definitely something about it that hints at far greater depths, a sort of moody meta-nostalgia that’s achingly apparent even beneath all the gleam and polish, that even the most jaded and cynical listener would be hard pressed to deny.
So whatever it is that Lantlôs have spent the last several years looking for and longing for… a nowhere place in an unknown time that, perhaps, only really ever existed in their most rose-tinted memories… it feels like they may have finally found it in themselves. It’s just a shame it took them so long!