Country of origin:Chile
Location:Santiago
Status:Active

Formed in:2014
Genre:Post-Black Metal
Lyrical themes:Nature, Mysticism
Current label:Throne Records
Years active:2014-present

DISCOGRAPHY

Lascar Demo 2014
Depths Demo 2015
Atlas Single 2015
Absence Full-length 2016
Saudade Full-length 2017
Cryptospores EP 2018
Wildlife Full-length 2018
Full Instrumentals Full-length 2018
Palynomorphs EP 2019
Distant Imaginary Oceans Full-length 2020

current line up

Gabriel Hugo All instruments, Vocals

reviews

A powerful, energetic debut that could be better - 68%
NausikaDalazBlindaz, May 2nd, 2016
"Depths" is Lascar's first demo released by Mexican independent label Inductive Oppression Records, dedicated to releasing short albums and other works by upcoming young bands. This is a very raw, aggressive and energetic work with as much melancholy and plaintive feeling as there is extreme urgency. Something about some of the melodies here (particularly the more sorrowful pieces of music) reminds me of Cascadian black metal and USBM band Panopticon. The title track sets the pace and the charge with equal parts aggression and anguish: despair is suffused throughout the music, whether it's in the keening harsh vocals, the sudden stops in the music that briefly reveal the grey sky overhead, the pale keyboard backing or the desperate tremolo guitar runs. Short glimmers of hope might appear in the changes of key but they fade away and the conclusion is ambiguous.

"Burial Caves" sounds a little more grounded and there is a slight air of dazed wonder in what otherwise would be a repetitive and frankly tedious track not very different from the title track in the way it rages ahead, pauses suddenly, and changes key and back again. The voices rage and howl a lot but don't do much else. Last track "Ocean Echoes" is a more blurry, steamy atmospheric piece where (oh no, not again) pummelling synth drumming dominates, to the extent that other sounds recede and the guitar melodies have to fit around the beat rather than flow over it. This is unfortunate as some of the background keyboard tones have a wan forlorn quality that expresses the desolation and alienation Lascar might be searching for.

While all three tracks (especially the last) have moments where the music lifts off onto a transcendental level to fly freely and gloriously, even if in very short bursts, and time seems to stop, for the most part there's far too much repetition and an impression that Lascar sometimes isn't quite sure where to take the music next. All tracks keep going and going but seem unsure as to how to stop or bring listeners back down to mundane reality. Apart from this, the music has plenty of power, energy and passion, and expresses emotion well in the singing and the background keyboard atmospheres.

A solid, powerful foundation for a post-BM band - 75%
NausikaDalazBlindaz, February 10th, 2016
I was attracted to this album - it happens to be the debut full-length for one-man post-BM band Lascar - by its cover art, a reproduction of "Sterbender Hirsch" ("Dying Deer"), done some time before 1913 by Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach (1851 - 1913), a painter who lived by anarchist principles, was a vegetarian and spent part of his life living in two utopian communes in Austria and Switzerland run more or less according to socialist / anarchist principles. At least the German painter and Lascar man Gabriel Hugo share a love of nature across time and space - let's see if Lascar's music also matches Diefenbach's approach (which was sometimes unconventional) to his art

The album offers up powerful and heartfelt emotional music with a strong BM base of showering tremolo guitar background, juddering beats and anguished screaming. Slashing riffs and doomy dramatic melodies dominate proceedings. "Atlas" is a strong track with thumping drums and passages of intense melodic drama redolent of stark desert and mountain landscapes where humans can feel small against soaring jagged peaks or bare plains and plateaux that stretch endlessly into the far distances. Acoustic guitar sometimes appears, most memorably in the last couple of minutes with a near-jangly rhythm. "Wilderness" is a more straightforward BM piece with rapid machine-gunning beats and a rougher edge. The acid-shower guitars pour down continuously and sometimes a synthesiser makes its presence felt in the background. The thundering synth drums are the strongest element in this droning track. The remaining two tracks follow in a similar manner as the first two: they're all mostly instrumental pieces with vocals in the far distant background, and all rely on melodies, riffs and rhythms that change throughout their respective pieces.

On the whole this is very grand and epic flowing music with the potential to inspire people to get out and hike up and down mountains and through valleys no matter what the weather conditions are. There is a lot of deep emotion, much of it quite weepy and anguished, in all four tracks. It's a pity though that Lascar does not do a great deal with the music in each track apart from trying to make every moment in every track count by adding new riffs and melodies when perhaps emphasising particular riffs and repeating them throughout the track would do. The tracks lose their distinctiveness and end up sounding much the same, and at the end of the album listeners may not feel they've been transported all that far from square one even though in just under 35 minutes they've been through lots of highs and lows in a stirring musical landscape. Another thing I notice is that the music charges about for a long time and then suddenly dissipates without much resolution of the intense drama that it creates.

I wish I could have said much more that's positive as Lascar has a very powerful sound and a distinct style of shimmering post-BM. In addition Hugo deals with atmosphere and emotion very well - what he needs perhaps is more practice writing music with a definite structure that brings the emotion and intensity to a head and resolves the tension in a satisfactory way for himself and his listeners. The album lays a solid foundation for what hopefully will be a long and interesting career.