Lantlos
Wildhund


4.0
excellent

Review

by vitorhugotoffoli USER (3 Reviews)
July 31st, 2021 | 263 replies


Release Date: 2021 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Lantlôs enter the new decade unbound in the search of uncharted metal territory

Ironically, the need for change might be the only constant thing through life. With new experiences, desires and plans, people often become (almost) unrecognizable when they look back at their former selves. In the Post Black Metal/Blackgaze scene, this also happened, to a certain extent, with a large portion of the bands that helped define the genre. Alcest completely shed their Metal tendencies on “Shelter”, only to return more focused on the atmospheric/shoegaze side of the music spectrum on later releases. Wolves in The Throne Room threw away vocals, guitars and drums on “Celestite”. Deafheaven teased indie and post-hardcore tendencies with the singles of “Infinite Granite” (still not released at the time when Wildhund came out).

German Post /Black Metal act Lantlôs are no stranger to such changes. Even if “Écailles de Lune” and “Sunbather” are regarded as genre benchmarks, Lantlôs album run through the 2010’s can be seen as the most influential and forward thinking out of all their contemporaries, especially with “Neon” and “Agape”, just like Soundgarden pushing the grunge envelope with “Superunknown”, back in 94. Adding this with a subtle urge to break free from genre tags (with the LowCityRain side project), “Melting Sun” came out as no surprise in 2014. The Black Metal roots were discarded, expanding the dreamy/pretty parts teased in “Agape”. The tremolo riffs gave in to a heavy post-rock with alternative touches from the likes of Deftones, with colossal compositions full of lush instrumentation and minimal lyrics from mastermind Markus Siegenhort’s deep voice.

With a 7 year gap between “Melting Sun” and “Wildhund”, Siegenhort had plenty of time to hone his already great compositional skills, as well as his newfound ones. By far the most noticeable improvements are Markus’s vocals and production chops. Listeners will notice it right away with the opener “Lake Fantasy”, which takes the formula of “Melting Sun” and shrinks it to a 4min riff oriented format, swapping the long soundscapes sections for catchy vocals with harmonization, glitch synthesizers keys and stellar drum passages provided by Felix Wylezik, who shines on the whole album with performances like “Magnolia”. The band follows up expanding those new strengths on tracks like “Coccon Tree House” and “Vertigo”, the later which could easily land on a Deftones Record. The shorter songs on the album allow the band to explore a great variety of sounds that keep the album fresh from start to finish.

Wildhund also takes the sound of previous Lantlôs releases and clash them against their new compositional approach. Album highlight “Planetarium” starts with a gentle clean guitar tone filled with electronic noises similar to “Eribo – I collect The Stars” or “Bloody Lips & Paper Skin”, only to pull a wall of sound like what listeners heard on “Azure Chimes”, alternating between softer and heavy parts packed with dreamy guitars and harmonized vocals. This song is the clearest example of the evolution the band underwent in order to arrive at “Wildhund” with a full control of their unorthodoxy tendencies for Metal.

The lyrical content of the band also sees great expansions alongside Siegenhort’s new use of his vocals. If in “Melting Sun” Markus contemplated a new color spectrum of feelings and sensations yet unknown to him, on “wildhund” he takes a full dive embracing everything that may come his way to unbound cathartic results , like depicted on “Magnolia” (“To feel it all at once”). Gone are the feeling of returning towards the within like “Intrauterin”. Now, all the surroundings are being pursued to keep him at touch with others and himself, like the lyrics sang on “home” (“I’m trying to protect what used to make me feel”). Markus complements the lyrics with a great use of his voice. Even without a great vocal range, the vocal melodies are amazingly crafted through the use of harmonies, great passion and a higher emphasis on his mid-range (“Dog in The Wild”). The vocal variety even welcomes occasional harsh vocals like the ones on “The Bubble” and “Amber”.

With “Wildhund”, Lantlôs takes his first step into the new decade with a perfectly crafted, unbound & forward thinking-sound. Like the previous decade, Markus continues to be a explorer into uncharted metal territories, discovering a new affinity to chorus, catchy orientated songs filled with all his previous musical endeavors, even outside Lantlôs. Even during pandemic times, the future looks new and exciting to Lantlôs.


user ratings (193)
3.5
great
other reviews of this album
ThyCrossAwaits (3.5)
A fully "post" metallic record....



Comments:Add a Comment 
vitorhugotoffoli
July 31st 2021


23 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Only Lantlôs to get me hyped enough to write a review after 3049250284 years

JayEnder
July 31st 2021


21129 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Excellent review dude! We share a lot of the same sentiments on this album :]



Cocoon Tree House is my jam

twlight
August 1st 2021


9181 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

dude can we please stop calling them "black metal" there is NO BM on this record

twlight
August 1st 2021


9181 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

sounds more like blink-182 than darkthrone..

budgie
August 1st 2021


38237 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

calling them a post/black metal act is pretty sound considering, you know, their discography is post/black metal

twlight
August 1st 2021


9181 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

yeah but is this album post/black metal



no

twlight
August 1st 2021


9181 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

melodic pop-metal is what this is

budgie
August 1st 2021


38237 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

turkey the review doesn't say this album is post/black metal, but says they left their black metal roots



twlight
August 1st 2021


9181 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

the bubble is a very fun tune!

kevbogz
August 1st 2021


6164 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

wonder how budgiboy feels about this album

budgie
August 1st 2021


38237 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

2-2.5

Kole
August 2nd 2021


388 Comments


The bubble slaps

JayEnder
August 2nd 2021


21129 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Yeah The Bubble is so much fun. Love the subtle harsh vocals in that one too.



Everything on here is just so vibrant and colorful I love it.

kevbogz
August 2nd 2021


6164 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

ngl nothing really stood out. all the riffs + strumming patterns were basically the same.



i was listening on pretty low volume tho

JayEnder
August 2nd 2021


21129 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

There are a lot of nuances and cool stuff hidden in the mix upon further listens, so hopefully it grows on you m8

budgie
August 2nd 2021


38237 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

kev kev kev kev kev kev kev eats butts butts ubtts butts butts butts utts

twlight
August 2nd 2021


9181 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Oh fuck off

Project
August 2nd 2021


5901 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

thanks for this review -- I'd never heard of Lantlos before and I am loving this on first listen, even if it is jarring to hear a vocalist that sounds distressingly like Mark Hoppus in this context

Pikazilla
August 2nd 2021


31198 Comments

Album Rating: 1.0

budgie, based

monocaust
August 2nd 2021


26 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

great review. Really can't settle on my thoughts about this album at all



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