KEIRA IS YOU "Last Row Needs Heroes" (2013)

band: Keira is You album: Last Row Needs Heroes year: 2013

genres: atmospheric rock origin: Poland

PLENTY OF MELODIES TO REMEMBER

Remember when all you had to do in order to chase for new good music was standing in front the TV, tune it to MTV, endow yourself with a notebook and be ready to write down bands and artists’ names, titles of songs and albums and even clever music video directors? It’s been a long time since Headbangers Ball was replaced by 16 and Pregnant. Nowadays going hunting in the huge current music scene can be a tough-going job. One has to deeply dig into piles and piles of new indie bands. But this energy-consuming task is worth carrying out when one finds unforgettable albums that can become a part of your life. This time I feel lucky of having found this Poland-based band called Keira is You, hidden like a gem among stones into the handful of blogs and webzines I am used to visit. The actual name of this new-found jewel is “Last Row Needs Heroes”, it is the third output of Keira is You.

Even though the band tags themselves as punk, anarchism is not the kind of feeling dwelling this room as I listen to this album. Rather than encouraging murdering a politician, “Last Row Needs Heroes” leaves you a taste of melancholy brought by utterly beautiful melodies and an atmospheric approach throughout the album. Namely, the sound of Keira is You is closer to post-rock, shoegaze, atmospheric rock and maybe darkwave, with that feature of emotional tread. I bet you have read this same description for an uncountable number of albums before. Nevertheless folks, in this kind of situations what makes a band to stand out or to be highlighted are the means with which they gear up in order to drive the listener through the moods they want to. The instrumentation, the melodies, the passages, the lyrics and, chiefly, the song-writing take a paramount role in Keira is You.

With a cover art that immediately reminds me of My Dying Bride's "Like Gods of the Sun", “Last Row Needs Heroes” is a train of emotions. Since the band kicks off the album with “Frinds with Time” you grasp that this is not a happy day at all. The singer chanting melancholic lines with a slow aching guitar and rising feedback effects announce the beginning of a low-down journey. Henceforth clean guitars will take over the album until its end. Striking is the fact that the melodies of these guitars are sometimes quite simple and slow, yet effective. This kind of minimalism and slowness brings that feeling of depression aimed for many into the slowcore genre in the 90’s. A bunch of guitar passages can however evoke to The Cure. But folks, gloom here is thicker, perhaps closer to This Empty Flow, not only because of the echoed clean guitars and its spine-chilling simplicity but also because of the other means of which Keira is You takes advantage. Here you can find utterly beautiful strings and a grand piano. This special elements ornament the sound of the album building a charming atmosphere of hopelessness. You can be given the chills as the album reaches its emotional climax performed by these strings in the ending moments of “Wait Dale”. Extra percussion can be found as well, those are developed by Magnus Lindberg, the same fellow of mighty Culf of Luna who has actually produced and mixed this album.

There is no easy forgetting song in “Last Row Needs Heroes”. The creativity of the band is shown by making several long tracks (up to 9 minutes) and getting rid of the traditional pop-ish song structure of alternation of versus and chorus. Each song is different, keeping the listener from boring but always wavering in the same emotional scope. You can go from dark songs like the homonymous one, which is left as the last track, to some others with sudden beams of hope, like “Wait Dale”. The latter is a different song, especially on drums, becoming in one of the highlights of the album. Some spooky moments can be found in “Ashtray & The Beat of His Heart” and lyrically in “Dis”, where you can hear “...I’ve been given the cross and crown, I’m leading the procession..”, doomy stuff, eh? However, it is in “O’Brien” where the singer seems to be really inspired, this outstanding track features an unexpected accordion brought by the band’s bass player. Standing by its own is “Monitors”, the first single of the album with quite mysterious bass lines and keyboards. A maddening one-shot video was made for this song.  

Personally, my favorite track is “Chariot of the Sad”. This piece is so melancholic that it dares to open with a beautiful 2-minute long piano introduction. The melody of the song is haunting as hell and, as above mentioned, it is downtempo and simple. Here vocals sound forlorn yet charming while the song is driven by the piano rather than the drums which sound softly in the background.

Undoubtedly you have listened to a song some years after you first enjoyed it and it brings you back to those days. That’s the gorgeous relationship between memories and music. I am wholly sure that after some years have passed I will listen to this album and it will bring me back to these four months I am spending in Gainesville, Florida, a long way from my hometown in Mexico. The powerful songs of this album have something mysterious on them that makes them so haunting. Bands can hook up the listener this way only when they are able to develop well inspired song-writing. Fans of bands like Canaan, The Cure, This Empty Flow, Anathema, The Eden House and even The XX, among many others, have to make sure of giving a listen to this underrated band. 

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OUR CEASING VOICE "That Day Last November" (2013)

band: Our Ceasing Voice album: That Day Last November year: 2013 
genres: post-rock origin: Austria

REMEMBER LAST NOVEMBER?

Spending some minutes alone in the bedroom or taking a ride in a bus during night draws a lot of thoughts about what one has done in the past, about why the sorrow that many of us hold inside has been there for so many years and, of course, about too many memories… There are certainly good albums to be played in these situations. Austria based outfit Our Ceasing Voice has produced an album that seems to have been written in a night of hard memories of a day in specific, and appears to be thought to sound in your ears during the situations above described.

“That Day Last November”, the new album of Our Ceasing Voice is striking for many reasons. Nevertheless, everything has been made for the sake of developing the most overwhelming atmosphere possible. These guys have been forging this sound during several years, a clear evolution and unfurl of more inspiration can be found in this new album comparing it with its predecessor “When the Headline Hit Home”, the only other conception of the band that I had listened before. Labeled by the media and themselves as post-rock, Our Ceasing Voice used to sound like what we expected to sound from a post-rock act, with mostly instrumental songs, a nice usage of pedals and effects and the clear aim of developing atmospheric music. I’m pretty sure that something happened in the life of Sebastian Obermeir, the individual who writes most of the music and lyrics, that changed his days and it is worth expressing, filling this new album with the most poignant inspiration. This inspiration yields to a different post-rock sound with a less generic structure. That situation that changed everything should have happened in a day in last November…

Perhaps the immediate things that claim attention in this album are the vocals. It is not easy for a post-rock band to deal with this. In a genre that aims for a perfect synchrony between the music elements, sometimes vocals and lyrics just can´t engage in the atmosphere. Our Ceasing Voice has dared to add vocals to all the tracks in the album. The big hook for listeners to trust in this decision is the singer song-writer Matthew Ryan. After some mails, he acceded to join the recording of the album, collaborating with a couple of songs. Of course we remember how wonderfully the voice of Matthew Ryan fits with post-rock due to his collaboration with Hammock in the song “Like New Year’s Day”. Well, with this song in mind, and after taking a few listens to this album I’m sure all of you will conclude that Mattew Ryan should be a full-time member of a post-rock band. In addition, vocals in the album also feature the interesting whispers of Reinhard Obermeir, as well as some female vocals, growls and even gang shouts.

Vocals walk along with the layers of sounds, effects, charming and melancholic harmonies, demanding a polymorphic usage of vocals. Reinhard Obermeir delivers quite a powerful whisper, yet far from the deep whispers of cheesy gothic metal singers. In the opening track “Afterglow”, vocals just don’t seem to work. A close interaction between the music and vocals is aimed. However in this first song the changes of vocal styles just can’t fit with the mood of both lyrics and atmosphere. But give them another chance, things go better in the rest of the album. In the second track Matthew Ryan appears, his unique voice sounds amazing in both tracks he collaborated, whereas in “Until Your Chest Explodes” he seems to sing varying his tone just as the music in the song does, in the other one “The Anniversary” he is closer to the spoken word style. “Until Your Chest Explodes” is actually the less dark and bleak song, the less down-tempo as well. However, the cruel message in the lyrics Matthew Ryan wrote makes you think about how wrong we are living our lives.

Our Ceasing Voice are clever people, they have the gift of driving the listener through images hidden in our minds and plotted here in the form of soundscapes. The music is slow and throws a lot of gloom. The structure of most of the songs, though not taken as a tenet, is based in starting with a quiet atmosphere, melodies in clean guitars and some nice soft drones helped by keys and even acoustic guitars, then the sound rises and the shoegazer and other noisy effects are carried out. This is the climax of each song, and Our Ceasing Voice knows how to manipulate the vocal duties to reach this climax. Both Matthew Ryan and Obermeir speak rather than sing in this album, which I find it really interesting. The comparison with Matt Finney in his collaboration with Heinali is unavoidable. But, just as in the case of Matt Finney and his introspective writing, the spoken words are necessary when Obermeir relates the situation involved in that November. Perhaps the most spine-chilling example is the third track “One of These Nights”, where Obermeir whispers in a bleak and dying way, his voice almost breaks down while he’s speaking about really specific moments. I love this style of writing, much in the vein of Katatonia’s Jonas Renkse and 40 Watt Sun’s Patrick Walker. The album features lyrics that include even dates and time references, yet keeping some uncertainty for the listener’s interpretation; and here’s where one can link one’s own experiences and let oneself to pierce the memories.

The album is haunting as a whole. The formula developed by Our Ceasing Voice is effective and original; this is, in my opinion, their apex. It is recommended for you to play the album using either headphones or powerful speakers with high volume. Whereas using headphones you can feel the whispers in each ear and find delightful details in music, voices and lyrics, when you play it in high volume you can enjoy the powerful rasp whispers which, by means of a nice level of bass, will make the whole room to shake just like the drone and feedback elements in the music will bring. Perhaps you haven’t noticed it, but strange things and shit use to happen in each November, this album is perfect to dive into your memories and remember that day, last November… 

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CASSIE "Sing About Me" (2012)

band: Cassie album: Sing About Me year: 2012 genres: post-rock origin: Finland

YOU WILL SING ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Last year the world of underground music was shaken by a small short EP entitled “Something You Always Wanted to Hear”. And the title was authentic, the EP shed sounds our ears were waiting for since a long time. The minds behind it were Cassie, a young Finland based band, which saw the light of day just in self 2011. The impact of three-track “Something You Always Wanted to Hear” was so that you can find a video on youtube of some guys from a school in Taiwan covering “Tin Cans and Strings”, perhaps the most outstanding song out the EP. In this blog, the EP peaks at #8 of the best albums of 2011. So, why did the world worship Cassie in the last year? Well, the reason is a really deep blend of beautiful sounds whose roots seem to be attached to post-rock music, but this time vocals are added. A reckless deed! Lots of songs from respected huge names of post-rock are fucked-up due to the use of guest vocals, but I can ensure that this is not the case. In fact, vocals are one of the aces of Cassie.

It took just one year for the band to release their first full-length album, just one year but it is a much waited album though. The title is “Sing About Me” and this time Cassie delight us with 5 songs running 34 minutes of completely new material. The album is set to be released on September 6^th, a first single was up not many weeks ago for free download on the their bandcamp page. The good news are that Cassie have not changed the formula of their sound. “Sing About Me” is as catching as “Something You Always Wanted to Hear”. Every song in this new album creates such a beautiful atmosphere. Although, the backbone of the music lies into the post-rock framework, Cassie is far of being completely bounded and defined by this tag. The whole atmosphere and mood of the album seems to carry the listener through different soundscapes, while one of the most prevalent features seems to be the contrast, the sudden changes, the motion between calm and tension, this is how clean guitars meet aggressive riffs in sudden instants. The same pattern appears in most of the songs, they begin with quiet sound to acutely turn the atmosphere into chaos. Shoegazer effects ornament these riffs bringing a quite beautiful sound. Personally I love this kind of guitars, I actually rather the sound of them in this album than in the EP, take a listen to the ones in “Alex”, where pedals make a nice work. The high tone guitars can take lots of post-rock bands into mind, but this time also remind me of northamerican outfit Oceana in their metalcore debut “The Tide”.

Of course, the sound of Cassie is blessed with the sweet vocals of Sofia Thuren. Her voice is a bit similar to the one of the singer from german pop act Wonderwall. Thuren is poignant and expressive. She fits exactly with the emotional impact demanded by the sound of the album. I mean, a soft melancholic voice typical of shoegazer bands or an aggressive guttural growling would not fit in Cassie’s music. Thuren sounds melancholic in most of the time, especially in the beginning of opening track “Whalers” but also sounds desperate in the end of “Alex”. Every moment involves interesting lyrics related with tragic love scenes, just the same way of “Tin Cans and Strings”. However, in a similar way that Anathema or Slowdive do it, Cassie shows some light in “Deep Sea Documentaries”. This song is actually the most dynamic track in the album, a clean song leaded by Thuren’s performance, complemented by a beautiful cello in the background. A trumpet also joins the atmosphere in “Golden”, a melancholic trumpet that can’t help reminding The Gathering’s most resent singles “Heroes for Ghost” and “Meltdown”.

Since the first hit-play to this album I can’t stop listening to it. The scope of Cassie’s auditory is wide, everyone inside post-rock, shoegaze, atmospheric rock, post-metal and lots of new affine terms will surely enjoy this one. “Sing About Me” will not disappoint any of the fans they have earned during the promotion of their first EP. However Cassie remains as an underground act, hope with this new album they receive more attention since this is, in my opinion, one of the best of 2012 so far.

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KONTAKTE "We Move Through Negative Spaces" (2011)

band: Kontakte album: We Move Through Negative Spaces year: 2011
genres: post-rock, electronica origin: United Kingdom

ELECTRONICS KONTAKT POST-ROCK

Nowadays there are lots of post-rock acts out there. Checking them out one realizes that many of them are nothing but an uninspired copy of Explosions in the Sky. Furthermore, creating post-rock music demands a good composition gift, so, as you can imagine, forming a post-rock band is not an easy job. But, suddenly, one runs into worth listening bands, like this one. They’re Kontakte, a London-based band, which is not completely described by using the term “post-rock”, we need to add a second word: electronics.

“We Move Through Negative Spaces” is their second full-length album, they have also produced an EP, all their material is available for free streaming in their Bandcamp site. Perhaps, the combination of post-rock and electronics is not that original when we think about bands such Blueneck or Unlearn, nevertheless, Kontakte uses the electronics in a very different way. They do not use drums. In order to replace them, they generate electronic beats and rhythms, which bring a very unique atmosphere that becomes into fresh and easy listening music. Replacing drums with electronics brings a wider possibility of sounds, letting the music to be more dynamic and unpredictable.

The album begins with a good set of electronics (please play it with powerful speakers) and shoegaze effects inviting the listener to dive into the atmosphere of lots of images appearing and disappearing every moment. Guitars in the whole album are similar to This Will Detroy You first album (their new stuff is epic, by the way!). Melodies are often generated by clean guitars that become the main element in most of the moments of the album, they are accompanied by a second guitar with excellent shoegaze effects (damn it! I love this, it’s almost orgasmic!). In fact, sometimes feedback becomes quite noisy, especially in the chorus moments, letting our minds to trip into a more violent yet melodic atmosphere. Some droning effects on guitars are also included, for example in song “With Glowing Hearts”. All this is combined with electronic polymorphisms creating different textures in the sonic experience. You can recognize, at least, two layers of motion, especially in track 6 “The Owls Won’t See Us Here”, where powerful electronic beats contrast with melancholic melodies on guitars. In general, electronics replacing drums may remind you to trip-hop band Arms and Sleepers.

Moreover, Kontakte handle some acoustic instruments. You can hear a violin in several tracks; a piano melody joins the soundscape in the song “Early Evening Bleeds into Night”. I don’t really know if these are keyboard-made instruments. Ambient song “Every Passing Hour” also features an acoustic guitar passage, the song fades away and becomes into the long track “The Ocean Between You and Me” this is probably the richest song in the album, including many textures, guitar effects and feelings whirling together in the same piece of song.

Highlights? Well, my favorite tracks are “Hope” and “With Glowing Hearts”. The melodies from these songs are awesome, they are well structured and, by the way, seem to express exactly feelings like hope, they fit with the nice picture in the coverart. This album is awfully good and it’s recommended to everyone inside the post-rock scene who will surely find it interesting and creative.

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HAMMOCK "Chasing After Shadows... Living with the Ghosts" (2010)

band: Hammock album: Chasing After Shadows... Living with the Ghosts year: 2010

genres: ambient, post-rock, shoegaze origin: USA

COSAS FLOTANDO EN EL AGUA

No he podido dejar de escuchar este disco desde hace ya un buen rato. Así que después de la reproducción número 15 creo que ya es hora de hablar de él. Se trata del cuarto material de estudio de la banda de Tennessee, Hammock. Hammock es un dueto que lleva ya buen rato trabajando en la línea del ambient, el drone, el shoegaze, el post-rock y la música experimental. El proyecto alcanzó reconocimiento dentro de los círculos del post-rock después de tener colaboraciones con gente de los mismísimos Sigur Ros. Aunque, siendo sinceros con ustedes, yo únicamente había escuchado su material anterior “Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow” publicado en el 2008. Ahora, este 2010 Hammock lanza “Chasing After Shadows… Living With the Ghosts”.

Una comparación inmediata con el material anterior de la banda nos deja ver un enorme abismo entre ambas producciones, aunque según las palabras del mismo Marc Byrd uno de los dos cerebros de Hammock “’Chasing…’ no es una reacción contra ‘Maybe…’ sino un complemento”. “Maybe…” era una barrera de sonidos que te envolvía en una atmósfera impresionante. Sin embargo, el sonido era extremadamente minimalista, el dueto únicamente experimentaba con los miles de efectos de guitarras y algunos instrumentos clásicos de cuerda y aire. El resultado eran unos dronescapes muy similares a los de los trabajos menos ruidosos de Aidan Baker o a los ambientales Stars of the Lid. Y especial atención a este otro dúo de Texas, pues han participado en la producción de este nuevo larga-duración. Así, la influencia de Stars of the Lid es notable, aunque ahora el sonido es mucho menos minimalista. Así es, Hammock ha traído músicos invitados que agregan violines, chelos e inclusive batería y una que otra voz a la atmósfera de “Chasing…”. De esta forma, al escuchar los bellos sonidos que emanan de este disco se vienen a la mente cosas como Explotions in the Sky o God is an Astronaut. Es pues un post-rock guiado por drones más que por guitarras limpias. Hay quien dice que la ambientación del disco efectivamente hace honor a su portada, te hace sentir flotando en el agua, relajando cada uno de tus músculos y a la vez guiándote por senderos de melancolía.

La influencia shoegaze es notable en numerosos efectos en las guitarras, algunas a veces suenan casi aterrizando en el dream pop como en el track “Little Fly/Mouchette” (uno de mis favoritos). El chelo da una enorme ambientación, se me viene a la mente algunos de los más antiguos tracks de Slowdive en los cuales la banda usaba violín. Durante sus conciertos, Hammock ejecuta su música de manera completa, es decir, lleva violinistas invitados, así como baterista. En cuanto a las pocas voces usadas, éstas son interpretadas por Christine Glass, esposa de Marc Byrd miembro de la banda. Su suave voz suena a kilómetros de distancia y parece no pronunciar palabras, encajando a la perfección con la ambientación de ecos y presencias que aparecen y desaparecen a cada momento. El track “Breathturn” es el ejemplo en el que más se nota su voz. Sin embargo, es en “You Lost the Starlight in Your Eyes” donde podemos oír algunos versos. Oirán algunos excelentes susurros en “Something Other Than Remaining” no podría asegurarles si usan palabras pero se escuchan muy bien, muy a lo Windy & Carl.

En conjunto, “Chasing…” es un buen disco para acostarse en la cama, apagar la luz y dejarse llevar por los sonidos que te rodearán, observar los dronescapes mientras te encuentras flotando por toda la habitación. Se recomienda hacerlo al volumen más alto posible. En verdad no creo que la banda haya dirigido su sonido hacia terrenos más “digeribles” con este disco, mi humilde opinión es que las agrupaciones de este género suelen variar su sonido y no dejan de experimentar. “Chasing…” sigue creando esa excelente atmósfera de “Maybe…” y por ningún motivo creo que la banda haya cambiado su forma de interpretar la música, sino simplemente ha ampliado sus horizontes, y no tenemos idea de que vaya a suceder en su próxima producción. Interesante!

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INTER ARBORES "Ya.Otreshennost'. Granitsi. Svyatoye" (2010)

band: Inter Arbores album: Ya.Otreshennost'.Granitsi.Svyatoye year: 2010
genres: experimental post-rock, noise, dark ambient origin: Russia

EXTRAÑA Y AMBIENTAL HUIDA DEL DOOM METAL

Con el paso del tiempo me he hecho de muchos discos extraños, raros y algunas veces totalmente incomprensibles. Les puedo asegurar que el nuevo material de Inter Arbores es uno de los discos más extraños que he oído. En el mundo del doom metal conocimos a esta banda rusa hace tiempo debido a sus demos de intenso y depresivo funeral doom metal en la pura onda de los alemanes Worship, la banda inclusive participó en el tributo a la leyenda del funeral doom Thergothon lanzado por Solitude Productions. Inter Arbores se suma a la gigantesca lista de bandas de doom metal que abandonan el género al poco tiempo para explorar otros territorios musicales. De entrada la banda agregó dos miembros al trío original convirtiéndose en un conjunto de 5 músicos, lo cual podría hacernos pensar que su primer larga-duración que sería lanzado este año sería un poco menos minimalista que el funeral doom metal básico al que nos habían acostumbrado. Pues nos hemos equivocado. Inter Arbores ha huido del doom para integrarse a… a algo que no estoy seguro de lo que es. Se trata de música prácticamente instrumental y ambiental. Un sonido que muchos han llamado como post-rock por el uso constante de guitarras limpias. Hay que recordar que las guitarras limpias estaban presentes desde los demos de la banda, dando un poco de originalidad a aquellas producciones. El título del disco es de por sí una cosa extraña: “Ya.Otreshennost'.Granitsi.Svyatoye” no tengo la menor idea de qué signifique ni en qué idioma esté o si se trata únicamente de dadaísmo (el traductor de Google no detecta ningún idioma en la frase). El álbum es un único track de 38 minutos en el cual se pasa por varios estados, pero la mayoría del tiempo se tienen las guitarras limpias muy ambientales que llegan a oírse muy a lo lejos casi rozando el silencio total como el punto alcanzado a los 9 minutos. El track no contiene batería ni voces. Aunque podrán oír algunas palabras habladas que tampoco tengo idea de qué digan porque es probable que estén en ruso. Inter Arbores agrega algunos elementos de ruido en varias partes del disco, casi al principio se tiene algo que seguramente te recordará a los escalofriantes Khlyst, se trata de guitarras fuera de control y totalmente improvisadas, así como una especie de drone por los 15 minutos. También alrededor del minuto 30 se oye ruido hecho con una especie de percusiones u objetos. A pesar de todo, todavía existen algunas partes influenciadas por el doom metal, claro ejemplo son los pocos riffs que aparecen alrededor de los 26 minutos. En conclusión, “Ya.Otreshennost'.Granitsi.Svyatoye” es un disco interesante, aunque no creo oírlo muchas veces e incluso tuve que cortar el track para subirlo a mi iPod. Pero es recomendable si estás interesado en la música experimental.

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LANTLÔS ".Neon" (2010)

band: Lantlôs album: .Neon year: 2010 genres: black metal / post-rock / shoegaze

origin: Germany, France

Hace varios años que me cansé de escuchar black metal, en mi afán por encontrar cosas interesantes en el género de los cara-pintada me he encontrado con varios proyectos que vale bastante la pena tomar en cuenta, uno de ellos es Lantlôs. Lantlôs es una de esas bandas cuyo sonido es tan interesante que el escuchar sus discos puede llegar a cambiar tu perspectiva sobre un género. Este proyecto desarrollado por el alemán Herbst se enfoca en la creación de black metal con un gran número de elementos que nada tienen que ver con el género. Entre ellos predomina el post-rock, sin embargo, Herbst incorpora ritmos jazz y guitarras con efectos shoegaze. Lantlôs ya había atacado por primera vez en el 2008 con su disco debut homónimo. Con ese lanzamiento conocí el proyecto y quedé fascinado. Más adelante recibimos la noticia de que Herbst se había aliado con el controvertido músico francés Neige. No debería sorprendernos, Neige se ha encargado de llevar las palabras “black metal” a tierras jamás exploradas. Entre los proyectos de este francés se encuentran: Alcest, que mezcla black metal con shoegaze; Amesouers, que agrega post-punk a la licuadora y, Peste Noire, extraño black metal avantgarde. Por lo que la unión de estos dos cerebros del black sin horizontes resulta en una magnífica sesión de música bien trabajada y cuidada hasta en el más mínimo detalle.

Este segundo larga-duración es titulado “.Neon”. No sé a ciencia cierta si sea el objetivo del título, pero el disco crea un sonido urbano ayudado por las letras que, ya no son en alemán como en el disco anterior, sino que aparecen en inglés y un track más en francés. “.Neon” arranca de inmediato con batería con ritmo jazz, contrastando con agresivos blasts black metaleros a toda velocidad. Neige canta con sus gritos agudos clásicos en el género, aunque he de confesar que prefiero su característico estilo que el del vocalista antiguo de Lantlôs. Neige suena extraordinario y aparece en voces limpias únicamente en un par de versos en el track “Pulse/Surreal”. Atención a esta canción que, resulta ser la más contrastante del disco y la que más claramente hace notar los elementos participantes: batería jazz y acelerada, voz limpia y gritos desgarrados, guitarras con el clásico efecto shoegaze de nota alta y guitarras limpias muy a lo post-rock. El disco tiene un buen ritmo, la mezcla de los géneros es muy constante. Claro ejemplo de esto son los tracks “These Nights Were Ours” y “Coma”. Las partes de post-rock hacen muy dinámico al álbum, pues los ritmos de la batería resultan variar muchísimo más que el típico disco de black metal. Como el shoegaze lo demanda, las guitarras contienen un gran número de efectos, para darse una idea de esto, escuchen el magnífico cierre del disco con su canción homónima, notarán más de tres guitarras interactuando.

En general, “.Neon” crea una atmósfera increíble. Lo podríamos describir como una especie de melancolía urbana. Mientras las notas de los efectos shoegaze te guían por terrenos melancólicos, la batería acelerada da violencia a la ambientación. Uniendo todo esto, “.Neon” resulta ser un disco altamente recomendable, aun para la gente completamente alejada de la escena del black metal. Lo dije antes y lo repito ahora: Lantlôs es una de esas bandas que puede cambiar tu perspectiva sobre un género.

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