Lantlôs is German for “homeless,” or “without homeland,” and that name is certainly apt. Throughout their career, chameleonic German metal band has been stretching the borders of heavy music, unconcerned with citizenship in any genre. Their earlier albums, such as .neon and Agape were indelible entries in the blackgaze canon, featuring Alcest’s Neige on vocals. 2014’s Melting Sun was a transcendent work that shed itself of any of heavy music’s trope to create an album that was blissful while still being entirely heavy.

Seven years later, Lantlôs returns with Wildhund (German for “Wild Dog”), an album that uses all the same sonic textures to create what is almost a pop record. And even with all the band names they’ve dropped in the press materials, Wildhund sounds as without peer or homeland as they ever have.

I cannot possibly overstate just how formational Melting Sun was to me. It completely uprooted how I thought about heaviness in music. Wildhund is perhaps even more genre-bending. The sonic palette is still rooted in metal, post rock, and shoegaze—the guitar and  bass tones are almost identical to those on Agape—but songwriter/composer Markus “Herbst” Seigenhart’s (here credited as “AcidGhost Seigenhorst) songwriting is much more inspired by alternative and radio rock like Smashing Pumpkins, HUM, Deftones, and Foo Fighters. Some moments even border on pop punk, such as the upbeat auto-tuned closer “Lich.”

And like those more mainstream acts, even the heaviest moments here are pinned down with an irresistible pop sensibility—a sensibility that is seen even more plainly experimental electronica of the bonus disc that comes with the deluxe CD package. The songs are rich in hooks and harmonies while maintaining the crushing guitar work and immaculate production of their earlier albums, now paired with synth treatments and more accessible vocals. Just listen to the blistering chord blasts of songs like “Magnolia” or “Vertigo,” or the proggy rhythmic acrobatics of “The Bubble,” and pay attention to just how catchy they are. And this is despite the massive distorted guitar riffs and absolutely manic drumming.

Granted, this isn’t the first album to mix metal riffage with pop hooks. Even besides acts like Baby Metal or Poppy that do it well, there are scores of bands aiming for radio success with lifeless riffs and limp hooks sung through gritted teeth. Wildhund is neither of these, nor is it Lantlôs sell-out record. Even as accessible as it is, it avoids ever sounding uninspired. Every moment bursts with fresh life, like a garden of ideas that’s become overgrown.

But that metaphor breaks down almost immediately, because this record is immaculately sculpted. Contrasting ideas are juxtaposed without running into each other, like the woozy ambient synths of “Planetarium” that give way to a crushing finale, or the hyperactive riffs and lush vocals of “Dog in the Wild.”

This sort of album only happens with a songwriter/arranger/producer who knows their songs as well as Herbst, er, AcidGhost. This is absolutely a piece of genre-bending maximalism, but it retains a laser focus throughout the whole fifty-two minutes of the record.

After Melting Sun, it felt like Lantlôs might not have had anywhere else to go. It felt as if they had already plowed every fertile ground they came to. And if Wildhund is any indication,  Lantlôs still has continents to explore.