Laster is an avant-garde,

atmospheric black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphas ...

band hailing from Utrecht, The Netherlands. However, the band describes their music as ''obscure dance music''.

History

Formation and early years (2012-2016)

Formed in 2012 by N. and W., to escape the musical boundaries they had drawn in their former bands Northward and White Oak, Laster immediately drew attention by writing and recording their first demo, ''Wijsgeer & Narreman'', within one day. The demo was released through the German metal label Dunkelheit Produktionen, and shortly after its release S. (a former member of Northward) joined the band. As a three-piece, Laster started playing shows throughout the northwest of Europe whilst writing and recording ''De verste verte is hier'', their first full-length album. The album was released through Dunkelheit Produktionen on vinyl and CD, and on cassette through New York-based Broken Limbs Recordings. In 2016, ''De verste verte is hier'' was followed up by a 12" split-release with Wederganger, released by Ván Records.

Experimental era (2016-present)

''Ons vrije fatum'', Laster's second album, was released in January 2017. The British Terrorizer acclaimed it album of the month due to a "surpassing fall expectations and growing into a magnificent, untameable beast." In the same year, Laster played

Roadburn Festival Roadburn Festival is an international music festival held in Tilburg, Netherlands every April since 1999. It was set up as a spin-off from the Roadburn music blog founded by Jurgen van den Brand and Walter Hoeijmakers. Originally focused on stone ...

and signed with

Prophecy Productions Prophecy Productions is an international record label, founded in Germany by Martin Koller in 1996. It proclaims promoting "transcendental ..captivating music".

for the release of their third full-length album. Laster's third full-length album entitled ''Het wassen oog'' saw the light on April 5, 2019, through

Prophecy Productions Prophecy Productions is an international record label, founded in Germany by Martin Koller in 1996. It proclaims promoting "transcendental ..captivating music".

. The 36-page art-book version of this release also contains their previously unreleased ''Stadsluik'' EP, extended artworks, and an experimental short story named ''An introspection''. Having made their name as an original and genre-bending band, N. S. and W. were asked among others from the new wave of Dutch experimental black metal acts to partake in the ''Maalstroom'' collaboration for the 2019 edition of

. Subsequently, Zuriaake invited Laster to perform at China's first black metal festival, Sirius Fest, followed by a two-week tour through mainland China. Laster's fourth full-length ''Andermans mijne'' was released on October 13, 2023. Following its release, Laster toured Europe with Japanese avant-garde metallers

Sigh Paralanguage, also known as vocalics, is a component of meta-communication that may modify meaning, give nuanced meaning, or convey emotion, by using techniques such as prosody, pitch, volume, intonation, etc. It is sometimes defined as relatin ...

Lyrical style

Laster's lyrics are described as an attempt to re-enchant daily life and all its complexities. Themes like love, distress, confusion, sexuality, and identity are often centralised, questioned, and re-imagined. So far, all lyrics have been written in the Dutch language.

Kunstlicht

Next to their musical endeavours, Laster runs Kunstlicht, a record label "aiming to bring together the divergent and eclectic." So far, Kunstlicht has released material by affiliated acts like

Silver Knife Tosahwi (c. 1805/10 – c.1878/80), meaning White Knife, was a Penateka Comanche chief. He was deemed "cooperative" by William Babcock Hazen. Young man: warrior and war chief In January 1846, along with Amorous Man, Old Owl, Buffalo Hump, Yello ...

Grey Aura Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed ...

, and

Wolves in the Condo The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

Discography

;Albums *''De verste verte is hier'' (2014) *''Ons vrije fatum'' (2017) *''Het wassen oog'' (2019) *''Andermans mijne'' (2023) ;EPs *''Stadsluik'' (2019) ;Demos *''Wijsgeer & Narreman'' (2012) ;Splits *''Vederlicht verraad'' (2016, with Wederganger) ;Videos *''Schone schijn'' (2019) *''Kunstlicht'' (2023) *''Andermans mijne'' (2023)

References

{{Reflist Dutch black metal musical groups Musical groups from Utrecht (city)