It is as caustic as it is melodically rich, and Agape, the third album from post-black metallers Lantlôs, masterfully blends melancholic solipsism with gripping aggression. Released like the French/German duo’s second album, .Neon (2010), through Prophecy Productions, Agape is best understood through the lens of collaboration. Lantlôs brings together Alcest’s Stéphane “Neige” Paut on vocals and multi-instrumentalist Markus “Herbst” Siegenhort, and each has a pivotal role to play in the overall atmosphere of Agape, for which Felix Wylezik also handled session drum work. Herbst, who also comprised the one-man black metal outfit of the same name and drummed for Impavida, is the driving figure behind the music of Agape’s five tracks, and is more concerned overall with setting a mood and an atmosphere than executing verses and choruses in succession. The songs are linear for the most part, or cyclical in some way, but even when parts repeat, they do so having changed somehow, so that the lushness of the melody behind the distortion at the beginning of closer “Eribo – I Collect the Stars” changes as the song develops and moves into and out of its ambient stretch. Long breaks find Herbst experimenting with guitar, bass and keys, as on opening cut “Intrauterin,” in which underwater guitar lays on top of far-off melodic echoes, or “Bliss,” which splits itself from the blasting of its first half to proffer winding-smoke jazz in its second, Wylezik adding personality to each tap of his ride cymbal in a way that wholly justifies his presence alongside Neige and Herbst.

As for Neige — who has seen the profile and cross-genre appeal of Alcest rise over the course of its two (soon three) full-lengths – his vocals will no doubt surprise many who approach Agape expecting something similar to the soft, wispy melodicism of his recent work. The slow, doomly march of “Intrauterin” is made all the more abrasive by his deep-seated screams, and though the song opens with two solid minutes of manipulated noise, there’s little to prepare the listener for either the heaviness of Wylezik’s crashes or the whine in Herbst’s guitar once the track actually gets going. Neige comes right in as well and sounds like his throat is trying to tear itself from his neck, and for the next two minutes, Lantlôs emit blackened doom of terrible ferocity, taking a pause after 4:30 as fading feedback gives way to the aforementioned melodic break. Around 7:45, they revive the plod and Neige reenters with screams, but the melody line skillfully interwoven, and it’s less a switch back and forth than a joining of the two sides into a cohesive and complementary whole – much like the band itself. At 9:52, “Intrauterin” is the longest song on Agape (immediate points there), and does a decent job of laying out the scope of the album, but “Bliss” immediately expands and somewhat works itself against those expectations by launching from the guitar line into a flurry of d-beat sub-blast drumming and drawn-out screams that seem to set up the slowdown that arrives at 1:23.

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Agape is the third album from the German/French collaboration Lantlôs, which unites Markus “Herbst” Siegenhort of Herbst and Stéphane “Neige” Paut of Alcest in an emotional torrent of atmospheric post-black metal. Joined by session drummer Felix Wylezik, Lantlôs is more a band than ever on Agape, which follows 2010’s .Neon and has already seen its European release through Prophecy Productions, weaving swiftly through searing black metal and contemplative, evocative ambience.

Today I’m fortunate enough to be able to premiere the song “Bliss” from Agape — which you can stream on the player above — and on it you’ll find Herbst and Neige working in tandem to express a singular but complex emotional ideology. Herbst in the multi-instrumentalist role on guitar and bass, Wyleszik providing drums and Neige contributing distant but still prominent screams, the song begins with guitar before launching into its blasted-out aggression, which in turn gives way toward the midpoint (listen to the bass there; it’s in the background, but not to be missed) to soft piano and a jazzy drum beat.

The build and climax that ensues from there is befitting the journey on which Lantlôs take the listener throughout the course of Agape, which like other Prophecy releases over the last couple years by bands like Alcest, Arctic Plateau, Les Discrets and others, pushes the boundaries of musical darkness and melancholy while also remembering that the core of a lasting song is its melody. Lantlôs does this and holds firm to its heaviness and abrasion as well, making it all the more impressive.

North American release is set for Jan. 7, 2012. For more info on Lantlôs, check out the band’s website. Prophecy Productions‘ catalog is available for viewing at this location.