Japan’s Lang Share Richly Dynamic Screamo On Poignant & Riveting New Record

Lang, who are from Tokyo, Japan, sound superbly captivating on their energetically riveting new EP, カイエ / Cahier. They perform emotionally fiery screamo that’s packed full of energetically intense melodies that feel scorching — and also sincerely cathartic. The music feels stunningly earnest, with captivating, intense dynamics from the very first moments.

The aesthetic of the band’s sound carries an immersive caustic hardcore vibe, and there’s frequently a lot of energy in their songs, which helps keep the adrenaline up, but the band definitely do not really dip into overt chaos. Instead of chaos, Lang sound rather focused on delivering blasts of emotional release with their songs’ respective journeys. The melodies rush outward with the force of a river that’s just breached a dam, and, besides the element of subtly liberating relief in the freeing rush that’s available to jump into, the songs also carry a sense of magnificent beauty.

The core melodies across Lang’s vibrant music remain stormy and emotionally tumultuous, and Lang frequently perform these musical ideas with a just amazingly flourishing intensity, like a musical thunderstorm. That intensity does not exclude room to breathe. “夜の葦 / Night reeds,” for instance, features significant portions of more free-flowing melody with clean (but powerful) singing. Familiarly screamed vocals return during the opening of the next track, “辺縁に立っている / Consciousness,” and this song also features music that temporarily mellows out while remaining relentlessly persistent.

Lang’s sound feels very fully developed, and the sonic tapestry provides a lot to sink into. The rhythms that open and run through “柄 / The haft” feel like a perfectly orchestrated avalanche of sound, with lightning strike drum onslaughts and deeply reverberating lurches of heavy and somewhat coarse guitar riffing that seem to carry an air of desperation.

The sonically lush and powerful release, as a whole, feels like kneeling in the rain and pleading with the heavens. The songs deliver an adeptly interwoven musical portrait of turmoil, with some real intrigue in the sound, as if the band’s music unfolds within a bustling city environment. The group seems to zero in on personal feelings of struggle and brokenness within the formidable expanse of modernity, and there’s a raw, richly developed urgency in the sound. Lang’s music feels immersive, like moments of chaos suddenly frozen in time.

カイエ / Cahier is available via Long Legs Long Arms Records, a Tokyo label.

5/5 Stars

Listen to カイエ / Cahier below!