Style: Atmospheric black metal, jazzy black metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: When jazz and black metal have a child
Thoughts: I love Jazz. I love black metal. There are very few moments in my collection where those two loves intersect more so than Lantlos' second album .neon.
Right out of the gate the band gives the listener a preview of the entire album. Minusmensch details perfectly what the album is about: a soft jazz opening that is accented ever so slightly with distorted guitars. The drums in particular rely heavily on the ride accents that you would hear in a typical jazz improvisation.
Piano and bass dual with each other ever so slightly as the song grows in stature. When the black metal finally does enter the picture it's slow and uses similar accents on the percussion that the jazz section does. It's only abandoned when the band transitions completely to blast beat oriented riffs.
The vocals - provided by the one and only Neige - sound like a wounded wildebeest howling out for help. They are not what I would normally consider for an album such as this, but they work exceptionally well. By the end of Minusmensch the band is expanding on a distorted riff and variations thereof, leaning more into the fusion of jazz and black metal.
The album's highlight though comes with the second track. These Nights We're Ours is one of the best songs I have ever heard in my life. The clean guitar intro, to the building urgency of the initial riff mixed with the immense blast beats throughout the entire song - it's perfect.
The melody played by the lead guitars has such a strong sense of desperation to it that it draws me in every time. It n e e d s to be heard, it demands it of the listener. The jazz focus is a bit less on this track, but is still present - especially on the slower mid section. The drums accents again take heavily from the jazz genre.
The rest of the album follow suit. Pulse / Surreal offers another strong jazz fusion track, but unfortunately it's the last portion of the album where the music is truly exceptional. The second half of the album tends to be lost on me somewhat. I try to get back into it from time to time, but I almost always find myself playing side A of the record instead.
Regardless of the shortcomings of the second side the first three tracks on the album are more than enough to make this album legendary for me. I rarely think that 20 minutes of music is enough to justify buying a whole album for, but this is one such instance. One of the finest examples of jazz fusion I've heard.
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