Lantlôs - Melting Sun

By Sean Golyer. Uninteresting. Slow. Samey. All words that ran through my mind upon first listen years back, and subsequent listens. I didn’t think much of it back then and sorta wrote it off as a weird little experiment from the band post-Neige, but nothing more. Cherry Quartz had some cool moments, though. I did like that track. I gave it some more listens.

By Sean Golyer.

Artwork by Pascal Hauer.

Uninteresting. Slow. Samey. All words that ran through my mind upon first listen years back, and subsequent listens. I didn’t think much of it back then and sorta wrote it off as a weird little experiment from the band post-Neige, but nothing more.

Cherry Quartz had some cool moments, though.
I did like that track. I gave it some more listens.

Well, I guess Azure Chimes is pretty neat too.
Yet more listens.

Damn, Aquamarine Towers has a really great climax and a pretty catchy line.
Before I knew it, I was giving this album a spin on (at least) a weekly basis for months on end. That continues to this day.

One thing the album always had going for it was its sound. It’s so warm, pleasing, and inviting on just about any set of speakers or headphones I put it through. Not to mention it’s not quite like anything else I have heard before or since, particularly in the context of the type of music Lantlos is writing. There’s moments where the guitar tone has a very “scooped”, almost “djent” sound to it, but not always. This is usually a turn-off for me, but used here it seems pleasant and fitting. The bass sits very nicely and prominently under the guitars, adding further layers of warm distortion. Accenting them are some distorted bass synths that crop up from time to time. The vocals are awash in reverb, but not buried to the point that I can’t understand them. The drum-work rounds everything out, being subtle and just carrying the rhythm and adding cymbal washes when needed, or being the driving force behind the heavier moments on the album.

Photos by Webzine Chuul.

The use of space and atmosphere in the mix is other-worldly. “Ethereal” is an adjective I like to use when describing this album to others. While other related bands in a similar vein such as Alcest or Les Discrets often feel like they’re chasing the sound of childhood nostalgia, bittersweet memories, or just plain melancholy, Melting Sun transports you to another space and time altogether. A saccharine heaven, filled with unending rays of pure, golden sunlight reflecting and refracting against a sea of multi-colored crystalline mountains. A place to depart and reflect on the better parts of your once earthly existence. This is the ultimate escapist album and has a nostalgia all its own when the final moments of closer “Golden Mind” wash over you.

That’s not to say all this “feel good” atmosphere comes without heaviness. To the contrary, the masterful use of space and timing only serves to make the heavier and more energetic movements that much more explosive and massive. If you’re any level of a guitar tone-head, or like me just really enjoy the sound of well-crafted mixes, this album is nothing short of a marvel. A wide variety of clean and distorted timbres and textures are on display at any given time. Nary a sound ever comes across as “thin”, “muddy”, or out of place. Nor does it sound too clean or overproduced, it’s all very organic. A testament to a careful and well thought out recording and mixing process, most of which seems to have been done in-house with the band. Impressive.

Melting Sun is a gorgeous album waiting to reward the patient listener. Its hooks are subtle, but they’re certainly there. It proudly sits among some of my favorite albums of all time, or at the very least one of my most listened to. There’s a sort of unspeakable quality to both the atmospheric songwriting and the huge mix that makes it difficult for me to put into words even after over 2 years of listening to it regularly. If you wrote this one off early on as I once did, I highly recommend giving it another spin. There’s more depth here than what it initially lets on, it just takes a willing listener to take the dive as I have.

Terra - Mors Secunda

By Justin C. Last week I told you about Ash Borer's long-form black metal, but on their new album, Terra laughs at those tiny 12-minute songs. Why stop there when you can push the 20-minute mark? Just seeing those durations is going to be a turn off to a lot of people, but like Ash Borer, Terra makes these lengths work. Aaron included Terra's self-titled album in a Short and to the Point earlier this year.

By Justin C.


Last week I told you about Ash Borer's long-form black metal, but on their new album, Terra laughs at those tiny 12-minute songs. Why stop there when you can push the 20-minute mark? Just seeing those durations is going to be a turn off to a lot of people, but like Ash Borer, Terra makes these lengths work.

Aaron included Terra's Untitled in a Short and to the Point earlier this year. I was pretty taken with that work, but the band's pushed even further on Mors Secunda (Latin for "The Second Death"). Atmospheric black metal is probably a fine way to describe the music, but it's a bit more. There's an element of shoegaze, but without ever drifting too far into pretty. There's an element of drone, which as a genre I usually can't stand, but again, they make it work. I found this two-track album fascinating in a way because I could let it wash over me while I was driving, thinking whatever nervous thoughts I'm prone to, but I could enjoy it just as much listening to every nuance in a dark room. The melodies, like the songs themselves, are epic in scope. Sometimes they resolve nicely, sometimes they bifurcate into dissonance. The vocals, a mid-range shriek, make no pretense of sounding like human language. Like the melodies, they operate in a more complex emotional state.

As with Untitled, there is a misstep or two, mostly in the form of overly long outros. The first track, "Apotheosis," features over two minutes of more or less formless feedback. If you're in drifting drone mode, it doesn't matter so much, but sometimes I found it annoying enough to skip ahead. "Nadir" does a better job with its outro, keeping some form and movement. Sure, it sounds a little silly to say, "This 20-minute-long song would be better at 18 minutes," but that's where I was left.

But I don't want to end on a negative, because this album is a true gem, likely to get lost in the end of year shuffle, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the drumming. I'd be hard pressed to name a recent metal album that had drumming that I enjoyed as much. Only the percussion-centric Botanist would be in the running. The drums here are fascinating, with surprising accents and rhythms. In fact, I'd say the percussion is often integral to the melodic line itself, which is no mean feat when you're working with a non-melodic instrument. The best analogy I could come up with is kind of a nerdy one: Older cars (and modern trucks) typically were built by making a chassis--the backbone of the car--and then adding the body on top. It's a perfectly workable design, although not great in terms of safety and weight. In most bands, the rhythm section is the chassis, and the melody is the body. But most newer cars feature a unibody design, in which the chassis and body are part of an integrated whole. Terra have gone unibody, with all the parts adding to the structure of the music, making a stronger whole.

Automotive engineering analogies aside, it works brilliantly. Whether you want to zone out while you're listening or bring in your laser focus, Terra's got you covered.

Bearstorm - Biophobia

By Matt Hinch. Remember when Kvelertak sort of blew minds with their combination of black metal vocals and mostly hardcore music? Given their recent output it's getting harder to remember the impact of that first album. But if you liked that idea in principal how about black metal vocals over prog/sludge?

By Matt Hinch.

Artwork by Karl Dahmer.

Remember when Kvelertak sort of blew minds with their combination of black metal vocals and mostly hardcore music? Given their recent output it's getting harder to remember the impact of that first album. But if you liked that idea in principal how about black metal vocals over prog/sludge? Well, it's hard to say “over” as the vocals sit mid-mix but that's what you get from Bearstorm and their second Grimoire release, Biophobia.

The album is listed at five songs but the opener (“Dawn Chorus”) is just nature sounds and “Agaric Catechism” is three minutes of instrumentation that serves little purpose outside a brain reset. Hey, gotta have at least one beef, right?

On the album's other three tracks we get the aforementioned black metal vocals as a voice to dynamic sludge cut with enough progressive edges that it hardly feels like sludge at all. The title track features a nice headbanging pace with doubled triplets (duhduhduh-duhduhdhuh, you know what I mean) giving the track the velocity it needs. There's also a pretty noisy solo, a bass solo, and the beginnings of the prog realms Bearstorm venture deeper into later.

Later as in the next track, “Cravers of a Second Birth”. This one is all over the map in a good way. Riffs continuously spill over into each other, mixing technicality with power, a dark vibe, and fancy fretwork. There's even a big, doomy part to ground things a little amid another bass solo and a skittering, insane feeling. It covers a lot of ground over 6:44.

Not quite as much as on closer “Cryptobiotic Filth Destroyer” though. Since I can't understand the slavering black metal rasps all the time you can draw your own conclusions about the tracks's lyrical content. The vocals are relatively sparse however, as long instrumental passages dominate this one. Rolling thunder riffs with explosive crashes, a building tension, and a delicate, melodic movement where Bearstorm really flex their prog muscles that moves into the payoff you're waiting for comprise the EPs final statement.

Coming in at under 25 minutes the EP isn't as epic as their previous full lengths and the short run time is definitely felt despite the track lengths. Being on Grimoire it comes as no surprise that it sounds great too. Biophobia serves as a nice reminder of what the Richmond, VA product can deliver. Don't be afraid.