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Lantlôs > Agape > Reviews
Lantlôs - Agape

Grabbing at nothingness - 30%

triggerhappy, May 1st, 2014

After Lantlôs' .neon, which displayed a fascinating blend of the varying dynamics of post-black metal as well as the ambiguous tonalities of jazz, I was highly anticipating their next release to take that style further, setting themselves apart as visionaries of the genre. So how well does Agape live up to its predecessor?

Well, to start things off, Intrauterin begins with nonsensical chord-banging and skronky wails, then an aimless post-rock part, and finishes off with a clumsy doom riff; a horrible way to begin the album. Bliss follows the exact same structure, except the drone makes use of loungy piano. It's bookended by faster tremolo riffs that wouldn't sound out of place on .neon, but here, they just don't stay for long enough to be memorable. Bloody Lips and Paper Skin sees a reversal of said structure, with a heavier riff coming after yet another uninteresting drone, but again, it's nowhere near developed enough, ending just as abruptly as Intrauterin did. You Feel Like Memories, with its freeform improvisations over throbbing bass pulsations, recalls darkjazz outfits such as Bohren and der Club of Gore. It sounds pretty decent, but then again, it would be difficult to fuck up in a genre as stale and uninspired as darkjazz. Even the less explicitly terrible parts are nothing more than generic – the main riff of Eribo could have been done by just about any post-metal band out there.

Neige pulls in a rather decent harsh vocal performance, but unfortunately his presence is completely wasted on such bland music. It's amazing how long this album feels, despite clocking in at a meagre 35 minutes. For all its simplicity, there is no definable sense of structure to be found. Agape is a ghastly train-wreck of post-black metal that should be swept under the rug and forgotten.

A Bit Dissapointing - 60%

IcemanJ256, January 10th, 2012

Since discovering Alcest, I have been checking out virtually every project Neige has been involved in. I was completely blown away by .neon, I thought it combined about 4 very different genres more intelligently and interestingly than most music I know of.

Agape is a much different story.

One adjective I can sum up this album in is "drawn out." I really don't mind when music is slower, having buildups, and creating an atmosphere. In fact, I love it. My music doesn't need to be heavy. Go ahead, look at my reviews, you will probably find the word "atmosphere" written more than the number of reviews I have. The track, "You Feel Like Memories" is a totally instrumental, jazzy mellow piece. I would usually look forward to such a thing, and for the first minute and a half, it's descent. But the problem is, it keeps going and going, unchanged, and when it does change a little bit, it is simply not exciting. I'm bored to death.

In "Intrauterin," there is a very long, drawn out mellow period before a sudden explosion of heaviness around 7:40. It feels like waiting for a bus that is five minutes late, I can't help but feel frustrated and knowing that I'm wasting time. This nearly ten-minute song seems like it really should be four minutes, and the only reason it is ten minutes is because the few musical ideas are stretched out beyond capacity.

Something that is considered post-rock, or atmospheric, doesn't mean I want to listen to someone lazily tapping on cymbals for 5 minutes straight. I just can't help to get a feeling of extreme boredom, and trust me; I have much more ambient music than this that isn't as boring. When the songs get to heavier parts, they are usually pretty good for a while, because there's actually something happening. "Bloody Lips & Paper Skin" is probably my favorite track; despite taking a minute too long to get going - it's a good example of what most of the songs should be, I think. My second favorite is probably "Eribo - I Collect The Stars," it is still mostly repetitive, but having some of the best melodies on the album, I don't mind as much.

I can't help but feel cheated on the album length. 35 minutes? Just when I feel like I'm just getting into it, it's over. It's way too short, but way too long at the same time. It feels like 20 minutes worth of ideas just played at half the speed. The album seems rushed to me, coming out barely a year after .neon. Keep in mind that I absolutely worship .neon, and I don't hate this album, I really like several parts of it, but they have set their standards pretty high. I'm seriously considering just piecing together all the parts I love into one track. If you haven't got the clue by now, check out .neon if you like any sort of metal or post-rock, or Alcest for some very atmospheric, shoegaze-inspired metal.

Originally written for Amazon.com

Herbst does it again. - 85%

RobboElRobbo, December 24th, 2011

Agape is totally different from the masterpiece ".Neon" released just last year. That album was aggressive as hell, and extremely dark and depressing. This time around, Lantlos takes a very doomy approach to things. The agression is basically gone (hell, the metal is basically gone), which I have no problem with at all. This one is super chill and sad, and the flow of the album just drains you. The guitars are simply mesmerizing and dreamy, and the drums are mixed extremely nicely. I couldn't help but to notice that the guitars on "Bloody Lips" sound exactly like some of Devin Townsend's guitar work, actually. Neige's vocals seem much more "honest" and passionate this time around, too, and are probably my favorite part.

Upon first listen, this one was way too short. Clocking at 35 minutes and closing off with the climax, Eribo - I Collect the Stars, made me feel a tad empty and seriously wanting more. I soon discovered that the two bonus tracks basically make this thing complete, which is something I would never expect. I'm not usually one for bonus tracks, but here, they're ESSENTIAL. I can see why they are not included on the actual album though. I believe Herbst said that White Miasma doesn't fit with the rest of the album, which is pretty understandable because it's the most aggressive (if not only aggressive) piece on the entire album. So many blasts. It's fantastic and some of the coolest drum work I've heard this year. However I disagree with his decision to not include it on the album because it seriously adds a ton of depth. This beast entirely changes the pace and grabs your attention after being entranced by the first five tracks. And the second bonus track, "Where Have You Gone My Friend?", is a really chill song featuring vocals which are entirely clean (I believe sang by Herbst). This changes the mood of the album right at the end and it's an extremely accessible and catchy song, yet is perhaps the saddest piece on the entire album. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the album art. One of my favorites this year! I assumed it was Fursy's work, but to my surprise, Herbst painted it. Didn't even know he could paint.

Agape is an extremely emotional and slow album, but it is hard to say if it's better than .Neon because it's an entirely new approach to things. It's incredible in its own ways, and it takes a few spins to truly appreciate. I wish there were more artists doing stuff like what Herbst and Neige are doing. Post-black metal done correctly.

Favorite tracks: Eribo - I Collect the Stars, Where Have You Gone My Friend?
Least favorite tracks: None!

8.5/10

http://www.last.fm/user/robboelrobbo

Neige is taking over - 70%

nilgoun, December 18th, 2011

It’s clear, that Lantlôs did release one of the most celebrated records of post-black metal with their second output .neon. One of the reasons for this enormous success could be a certain uniformity with other projects of Neige, as his voice alone is a quite remarkable thing and especially in terms of post-black metal it’s remarkable enough to shape whole projects. Agape goes some steps further which correlates with the statements of the promotional text – but later more. The record offers round about 35 minutes playing time – and therefore lacks 4 minutes compared to their first two outputs – distributed on five songs.

If you want to review this record, you’ll surely have to describe the opener Intrauterin in some way, as it’s clearly the first rejection of post-black metal. The song starts really slow, dark and sluggish and you could think, that Lantlôs changed their style to doom metal which also is underlined by the hoarse screams of Neige. After some time in which the passages were repeated multiple times there is a change to dreamy but unsettling melodies and some light jazz-drumming, which soon gets accompanied by the typical clear vocals of Neige. Right before the end there is another change, and everything gets harsher again, without being as doomy as the intro was. So, why should anybody describe this song? Because nearly every song on this record follows this scheme, or at least a reversed version of this theme.

This means, that there are a lot of doomy passages which are interplaying with those light, jazz passages and post-(black)-metal. In addition, every song has those really calm passages with similiar dreamy but unsettling melodies as those of the intro, Intrauterin. Although this indicates the developement the band made, and although the jazz influences are really nice, it’s also providing long-drawn structures, which are on the edge to become boring as there are so little accents. The harsher passages are – at least for Neige - unexpectedly hard which isolates Lantlôs from his other projects. Besides this structural similiarities, there are some akin passages as well in terms of style. On the one hand it’s good for the composition, as everything seems to be completely rounded but on the other hand it’s drawing you into this listening flow, and nothing really remains in your head.

This flow isn’t limited to the record as this, it’s also active in each song and so the record seems to lack high-lights and a real arc of suspense. This is fortified through the fact, that the songs are so longdrawn and after you have waited for several minutes for anything to happen there is no real reward. The only song which bursts out of the structural scheme is You Feel Like Memories, as it’s the instrumental of the record. It features calm melodies and a huge jazzy influence, and although it isn’t doomy at all it’s long-drawn as well and therefore is borderlining to become boring. Besides all of these compositorial flaws you have to admit, that the orchestration is solid and especially the vocals of Neige are convincing here, as he is a lot harsher compared to Alcest or Old Silver Key.

Conclusion:

Agape turns itself away from the post-black metal – although there are some influences noticeable – and changed its style to jazzy post-metal with doom influences. It’s still unsure, if this record brings any improvement to the genre to make post-black-metal obsolete, but I hardly doubt that. Nevertheless, it’s the consequent developement of the style which had begun to take shape on .neon. Agape does surpass the post-black metal locally, as it has a clearly new style – which heads by the way in quite a similiar direction as Neige’s other projects – but it has to be proven that this style is good enough to survive. If you loved the “black” in post-black metal just don’t buy, if you don’t mind risk an ear.

Originally written for http://threnodies.com

Absolutely Ecstatic - 95%

CrimsonFloyd, December 14th, 2011

In 2010 Lantlôs set the bar for the budding post-black metal sub-genre with the masterful ".Neon." The album explored themes of isolation and alienation within modern society through a keen interweaving of jazz, black metal and post rock. 2011’s "Agape" can be seen as a sister album, exploring the opposite theme—our various attempts to remain connected within an estranged world.

In exploring this theme, Lantlôs’s sound receives quite the makeover. Save Neige’s razor sharp wails, there are no real black metal elements on Agape. Instead, Lantlôs take on a cleaner but heavier sound (think Isis and early Pelican). The album is full of colossal, consuming riffs that bathe the listener in an overflow of emotion. While elements of Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s cathartic brand of post rock can be heard throughout, there are also jazzier moments that draw from the lush, mellow sounds of Do Make Say Think and Dirty Three.

Songwriter Herbst gathers all these elements together into a short but powerful journey through the highs and lows of self-transcendence. The album can be neatly dissected into two sides. The first half consists of the two goliaths, “Intrauterin” and “Bliss”. These two tracks crush with thick slabs of riffage and piercing howls, only to strip down to a peaceful, jazzy interludes before crashing into yet another wall of sound. These songs are extremely emotional but ambiguously so—like a madding muddle of tears, laughter, lust and fury.

With the venom and fire cleansed on side A, side B starts with a pair of shorter, mellower post-rock tracks. “Bloody Lips and Paper Skin” interweaves aqueous bass lines and catchy post-rock hooks with black metal screams into an oddly mirthful yet highly addictive piece of metal. “Bloody Lips…” falls into the lullaby-like instrumental “You Feel Like Memories,” which stands as a final breath of calm before the epic closer. “Eribo - I Collect The Stars” is almost orgasmic. The guitars release wave after wave of radiant bliss as if the instruments themselves had been slipped a dose of ecstasy. The lyrics, however, are extremely masochistic, as Neige’s tortured cries describe being willingly torn to pieces. “Eribo…” is the metallic equivalent of Godspeed’s “Storm”—a track so cathartic that it is almost unbearable.

Lantlôs had already established themselves as a leading light in the post-black metal scene; however, "Agape" takes their sound to a whole new level. Building upon their wide array of influences, Lantlôs ultimately create an album that is totally original in scope and style. The severity of wretched black metal screams and the force of metal riffs to push post rock to new heights, making the ecstatic finale all the more moving. A landmark for both post rock and metal, "Agape" is an example of fusion at its best.

(Originally written for http://www.deafsparrow.com/)

A different, but more flowing direction - 90%

ImmortalSargon, November 17th, 2011

Agape has a sort of majestic growing feel to it, not really continuing off from how their previous albums are, regarding the blackness in their music. This is not really an aggressive black metal release, which would be seen as a disappointment to its fans of the previous albums. Although, this new approach may be more of a sludge kind of sound, but still very much post metal, and kind of getting a away from the cliche blast beats of how people generally see black metal, so novelty is a thing that makes post bands great and monumental... more focused and collaborative energy with dynamic emotions from all the musicians. I think this is what post-rock generally represents regarding its spontaneous melodic progression with out being so verse like and cliche.

The music, regarding the guitar passages, are very flowing, dreamy, and almost doomish. Some of the riffs here just jump out and hook you. The 1st track does this very well, and this is music that grows, which is why its probably had some change of heart of some fans. What is evidently carried on from the previous album are those jazzy flows!

Vocals still the same as most other releases he's done, except for maybe Ruines Humaines or La Sanie des Siècles. Other than that, still very strong like .Neon, and Écailles de Lune, and go very well with this slow powerful approach.

The drums are more flowing to the music...still blasts in there, but generally have more of that sludge flow feel, which is pleasing with regard to dynamics.

The 1st, middle, and last tracks stood out there the most, but the intermediates definitely connect them. Very growing and memorable. Nostalgia is likely to take toll on the listener. This is a great piece of work for those that are into the dynamics and strong melodies of post-rock with hooks, but then again this is what makes post-metal so great.

Remind me why this supposed to be good? - 30%

autothrall, November 17th, 2011

If ennui were a muse, then surely Lantlôs were suckled to its cunt throughout the production of their third album, Agape, which is little more than a dissertation on how to lack even a shred of inspiration or riffing ability. This German-French collaboration was hardly one to write home about on their last two full-lengths, but there they have surpassed themselves to reach the summit of banal shoegazing post black metal which is wrought of such worthless characteristics that it stuns me anyone could enjoy it. Don't get me wrong: I listen to some Sonic Youth, Joy Division, Hum, My Bloody Valentine and so forth, and even a few of the sludgier post-metal acts that have also inspired this one (I hear a tinge of Neurosis and Isis, at the very least). I have no problem with bands exploring this avenue of sound. But Agape is as dry as a desert. Not emotionally draining, nor emotionally incandescent, nor really much of emotional anything. It's like watching a snail crawl across your boot, and feeling no impetus to either help it along or hasten its passage to the mollusk afterlife...

I wish I could blame Neige for this one, but really there doesn't seem to be anything he could do to fix it. For most of the proceedings, he drones along with the same vapid black rasp you hear in hundreds of other sludge and post-black outfits. There are points at which he goes into a cleaner vocal, and when this happens it's at a lower pitch, not the dreamier style he attempts on some of the Alcest material. Sure, none of the vocals here are even the slightest bit memorable, but had they at least been graced with a solid musical undercurrent, they would suffice. No, the fault here lies entirely with the writing of the music, which attempts to contrast itself between fits of tremendously derivative, uninspired riffing and tranquil, soothing passages where clean guitars pluck along with a lightness that equivocates to how much impact they have upon the listener. About the best I could say for the guitars on this album is that they clearly demonstrate a shift between cold, desolate minimalism and warmer, full-bodied streams of dissonance, but it's not praise when the note progressions are so void of musical value.

For instance, let's examine the first track, and the most swollen: "Intrauterin" opens with two minutes of swelling, ambient feedback before collapsing into this droning, dull riff which anchors itself on a bottom end chord and then some wailing, bending inanity. Then at about 4 and a half minutes in it changes completely to this transitive, clean passage with twinkling little acoustic stars and softly droning background tones in a higher pitch. I bring this up because it's possibly the one point on the promo that I did not want to delete. Neige applies some lower vocals to this in a fairly barren fixation, and then the highly predictable segue into slow tremolo shoegaze riff arrives on queue, with Neige picking up the intensity to his standard, grisly rasp. I feel like I just spent about 50 seconds wading in mediocre weightlessness and 9 more in the most boring aural environs imaginable, only vaguely adequate even as background noise.

Unfortunately, this is not just a one-off fluke. Agape does not improve the deeper you get into its infertile valleys. "Bliss" is a far heavier track in general with a steady substrate of simple chords smothered in harsh vocals and an empty melodic sheen, but despite its own breakdown toward tranquility it is 100% forgettable. "Bloody Lips and Paper Skin" has some appreciable backing ambiance, yet the first two minutes sound like a Sonic Youth sound check, if Thurston Moore plugged in and strummed the most unassuming series of notes and chords available, and the bass heavy, Hum-like core of the song is sadly no more climactic. "You Feel Like Memories" is the obligatory instrumental, and this one is all spacious, minimal clean guitars with a steady pump of bass and tinny percussion that drive it along to its aimless end. The finale, "Eribo - I Collect the Stars" is all big shining, crashing nothingness that fades out with a distorted bass drone, but I'll admit that the mid point with the melodic, bluesy arching 'lead' is probably one of the highlights, even if nothing is really happening...

And that is Agape in a nutshell. Nothing happens. Nothing of interest, anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out this was all improvisational, because most musicians I know can write more involved music than this in their sleep, regardless of their genre of expertise. I guess the point of such a thing as this album is to revel in its own misery, flirt with its own broad swath of emptiness, but in this case, nothing is rewarded to the listener, not even in a negative sense. Even at it's most climactic peaks of harried, atonal energy, the album seems as horizontal as a board. .Neon and their s/t debut at least showed a few signs of potential, but this feels as if all hope were truly lost, and that the musicians were just going to plug in and play whatever comes to mind without any concern for lasting quality. Hell, next to this album, other related acts like Alcest and Heretoir sound like virtual cornucopias of passion. Not the worst album I've heard, but certainly one of the biggest bummers of this year. Come on, snap out of it! You lot can do better than this.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Shifting Focus - 85%

absurder21, November 1st, 2011

When Lantlos released .Neon last year I will not deny that it absolutely blew me away. It managed to be an obvious post-Rock influenced record but it still pertained to so many Black metal conventions that it appealed to absolutely everything I look towards in both genres, compressed into one just absolutely chaotic, yet stunningly beautiful record. Compared to the debut, it was quite a step up in my opinion, as the s/t felt somewhat confused on where it wanted to go. For Agape, things have definitely changed, and I can tell you the focus has shifted far more towards post-rock then Black metal, upsetting that balance and leaving this record noticeably weaker then Neon. But do not freight, for this is still a great piece of music, and considering how high the bar was, a competent release.

The record starts out with a heavy, dissonant noisescape of chunky riffs and screeching vocals, somewhat reminiscent of Altar of Plagues, declaring immediately that this is not going to be the same story as .Neon. While this chaos continues for awhile into the song it eventually quiets down into far more post-rock territory and for the most part this is where most of the album will stay, after the second track, Bliss that is, which is the only relatable track to the previous record. The guitaring on this record is a lot different from the previous record as there isn’t much in terms of blast beated tremolo picked black metal riffs, instead it seems that the riffs are somewhat more like down-tunned and heavy (almost sludgy) smashes that come in at the height of some of the chaos. In terms of the post-rock aspects, there was a lot more clean, delayed, tremolo picked licks that float along the calm bass lines and clean vocals, carrying the songs but not being particularly obtrusive to the atmosphere being held by the other instruments. The drumming on here is definitely a lot calmer than the previous efforts, where blast beats were common, on this record it is somewhat a rare occurrence most of it being in the ballsiest song on the record, Bliss. There was a lot more effects placed on the drums as well, as can be heard on the intro to You feel like Memories, and this adds to some of the dreamy elements of the record. Vocally, Neige is still at the top of his game, belting out the screeches which helped establish him as well as his competent clean vocals, which despite the increased emphasis on post-rock, are less common then the extreme vocals.

Lyrically, Agape is a lot more abstract and surreal in nature then the straight forward emotional rhetoric of .Neon and the debut, although you can still see that the lyrics are influenced by his past of drug abuse and whatever other personal struggles he was going on about on the previous record. With the high emphasis on post-rock and the general slowing of things down, one would be surprised that the mood and atmosphere of this record make this some of Lantlos’s darkest recordings to date. While the record does have its fair share of dreamy, warm post-rock passages, a lot of it is used to push the album into some of the bleakest moments of the bands career, while .Neon was upbeat and melodic, Agape is brooding and dissonant. In a sense, it’s more similar to the debut for mood, but with the level of song writing of the previous record that made the band so popular.

For fans of Lantlos this seems to be a divide. Those who loved the debut but we’re disappointed with .Neon seem to love this record; where as those of us who caught on to the band with last year’s release are somewhat disappointed with Agape. All though I didn’t love this record to the same extent as the previous, I will commend Lantlos, as this is a competent release which didn’t just stick to a formula or cut and paste whatever people seemed to like. Either way this is a grower, and even though on first listen may seem disappointing, a few more lesson shows one what an emotional record this is and that this will appease your appetite for Lantlos material.
BEST TRACKS: Intrauterin, Bliss, You feel like memories.