It may come across as presumptuous, but it feels really good to think back on a band that you’ve watched grow and evolve since their earliest days into what they are now. Laster are the prime example of such a band for me. I have been utterly enamored with the Dutch trio since Wijsgeer & Narreman, the band’s very first three-song demo released eleven years ago now; even in their most raw incarnation, it was plain to anyone with ears that they were on to something special, and it has been incredible to watch their music get more delirious and delightful as they have allowed themselves to progress. Now on their fourth full-length, Andermans Mijne finds them sleeker and more focused while still managing to push boundaries like only they can.

Eschewing traditional genre classification, Laster have long since championed their own sound, a fascinating mix of pop and jazz inflected black metal they call “Obscure Dance Music,” and this moniker fits nowhere better than on Andermans Mijne. While there are the frequent blast beats and double bass rolls to remind the listener that extreme metal is still a part of the band’s DNA, the majority of this album is driven by the band’s most infectiously danceable grooves to date. Songs like lead single “Kunstlicht” and “Poetische waarheid” turn the rigid and cold formula of black metal on its head and inject it with a joie de vivre that few other bands can so convincingly pull off. Forget headbanging, these are songs to shake your ass to.

Yet for all it does, the real strength of Andermans Mijne is what it doesn’t do. The instrumentation here is pared down from the more heavily experimental previous albums. There are no 808 hand clap rhythms, no cabaret saxophones, and barring a few moments of guttural ecstasy, there are no harsh vocals on this album. Yet while I might miss the more outlandish moments of Ons Vrije Fatum and Het Wassen Oog, I can’t deny that these songs are the most cohesive sounding that the band have ever written. If anything, the absence of these elements only allows more focus to be placed on the fluid, jazzy bass lines, crooning vocals, and playful guitar work that makes up the heart and soul of what Laster do.

Metal is a genre of music whose success is in making one feel intense emotions, be it anger or sorrow or the catharsis that comes thereafter, but it’s rare to find a metal album that makes me feel this much joy and zeal. Andermans Mijne is an all-out success in every way, from tight performance to impeccable songwriting, but its biggest strength is in just how much fun it is to listen to. It’s an experience that I cannot get enough of. Long live Obscure Dance Music, now and forever.

— Vincent

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Andermans Mijne will be available digitally and on vinyl and CD via Prophecy Productions. For more information on Laster, visit the band’s official website.