Lantlôs - Melting Sun (Prophecy) (2014)

If guys who looked like this:

, worked in places that looked like this:

, they would endlessly listen to Lantlôs' Melting Sun. Unlike contemporaries Alcest, they don't endlessly wallow in moonbeams. Melting Sun is engaging. Listen to the heavy tremolo picking in the second track, "Cherry Quartz," and tell me you're not banging head into the quartz crystal display case. And unlike previous Lantlôs records, gone are Neige and his screaming vocals. The vocals are now sung. Melting Sun is a crowning achievement in the wave of parent-friendly black metal influenced rock. Goodbye mysterious fog machines, hello chakra cleansing burning sage.

-Z