Lantlôs — Wildhund

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After a seven year wait since their last record, LANTLÔS are back with “Wildhund” delivering a dreamy, catchy alt-rock endeavor. In the past, the band have been described as post-black metal, but this album takes them in an even softer direction.

The band adds significant color to the rock and metal worlds with their fifth full-length album. Think of them as a more upbeat version of DEFTONES with sounds mirroring that of FOO FIGHTERS in several instances, especially vocally. A lot of times the vocals create a dreamy vibe and seem to echo, while the guitars and keyboards sound extraterrestrial. I could tell from the first song “Lake Fantasy” I would enjoy the album.

“The Bubble” reminds me so much of an early-2000s rock song at its beginning and vocalist Markus Siegenhortseems to be quite influenced by the FOO FIGHTERS’ Dave Grohl. Even though I consider this album to be a weird experience as a whole, there is a lot about it I could see being radio friendly. I was really drawn to the echo-y vocal effect contrasted with the urgent pounding of the drums. I think the drum work on this album is incredible.

“Amber” is my favorite, and possibly the heaviest, song on the album. The drums become a lot more aggressive, the guitars are haunting, and Siegenhort offers up a small section of screams. I will say I would have liked to hear more of that even though I greatly enjoy the clean vocals.

The opening of “Planetarium” is what I imagine it feels like to step from a space shuttle onto the surface of a far-away planet. The instrumental sounds scream deep space and the vocals are psychedelic and floaty — they have a very zero gravity feel to them.

The final song “Lich” throws me off a little, because of the weird effect on Siegenhort’s vocals, almost sounding robotic, along with the way his delivery sounds broken up. It’s very much like hearing a computer talking. I wasn’t a fan of this particular experimentation.

This band and album are interesting in that they somehow manage to cohesively combine the sounds of alt-rock, pop rock, psychedelia, shoegaze, alternative metal, and more into an enjoyable — and I won’t call it just a listening experience, but a — listening experiment. Because “Wildhund” is quite experimental with its sound and the band wasn’t afraid to take risks.

Songwriting: 8
Musicianship: 9
Memorability: 7
Production: 8