Ah, my old friend. We look upon our very first reviews fondly, as opportunities for meditation and embarrassment alike as we grow older and just plain old. Six years ago, for my first assignment as a meek n00b (10), I was assigned to Chilean post-black act Lascar and its third full-length Wildlife. It was, uh, not a good experience. The biggest gripe was its obvious paper-thin Deafheaven worship, pretty ambient post-rock passages copied and pasted atop milquetoast blastbeats and shrieks, which gave it an ultimately disingenuous feel that undermined the post-black necessity for emotional connection. Mastermind Gabriel Hugo wasn’t a one-and-done, no sir, as his 2023 side project Voidmilker’s trver and rawer black metal attack offered meager redemption. Time has passed, so how will Equinox Flower fare?
Hugo has not been sitting on his hands; although Wildlife was the first release sent to our humble establishment, it was the third full-length and there have been three(ish) full-lengths and two EP’s since its 2018 release.1 In Hugo’s defense, Lascar has taken a more streamlined approach. Instead of a stark contrast between the heart-wrenching and the blackened attack, Equinox Flower feels more dynamic and balanced. While atmosphere is first and foremost, as you’d expect from myriad post-black acts, its more diminished chord progressions and fusion of lush ambiance and heavier black metal instrumentation set it above Lascar’s history. Old habits die hard, but Equinox Flower is a better album than I ever expected from this act.
The streamlined approach works for Lascar’s aesthetic better, that while Equinox Flower’s first priority is melody and beauty, it does awkwardly juxtapose it with black metal but rather fuses them. As such, the four tracks here are given more opportunity to flow and breathe, effectively utilizing its atmosphere in place of hooks, while the blackened attack gives it needed momentum. Also useful is that Hugo seems to have taken a more depressive approach not unlike Naxen or Austere which doesn’t undermine its blackened thrust while more diminished chord progressions and melodies recall Evilfeast or Midnight Odyssey. More long-form tracks do the album a fair amount of good, because while the atmospheric bombast felt rushed and muddled in Wildlife, Equinox Flower effectively balances, with a fairer production and mixing blueprint to go by, each of Lascar’s instruments given its due.2
Case in point, closer “Late Autumn” feels like a very solid black metal song complete with melodic tremolo, double bass, and blastbeats as a backbone while the soaring ambiance serves as a transcendent motif that enhances the nature-based vibe. The opening title track and “Early Spring” also utilize memorable hooks and passages of tranquility to provide an organicity that was sorely lacking in the stiff and unyielding Wildlife. In fact, aside from listener stylistic choices, third track “Floating Weeds” is the only track with issues. Existing as the only cut without lulling passages, the overwhelming synth hook gets incredibly old incredibly fast as the track length backfires. Of course, Lascar remains post-black or blackgaze or whatever, and an extremely triumphant version of it, the more subtle atmospheres of Wolves in the Throne Room or Alcest be damned, and thus listeners who are expecting more subtlety will be disappointed by the (albeit better) post-black bombast.
When I was alerted of Lascar’s new album, I sighed heavily, expecting the pretty and paper-thin shenanigans of Wildlife from my fledgling years to rear their ugly pretty heads. However, thanks to a more organic songwriting and safer utility of melody and ambiance, Equinox Flower turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant experience. It’s still stubbornly post-black with all the warts and bombast you expect, but channeled into a far more productive form. Sorry for ever doubting you, Lascar. Keep improving, you glorious bastard you.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Tragedy Productions
Websites: lascar.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/lascarmusic
Releases Worldwide: June 7th, 2024
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