Ελληνικά
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Germany
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Year: 2018
Mushroom lovers, duet fanatics and major label haters can argue whether Mantar’s (Turkish for mushroom) new album will be the ladder for reaching the top or either a step back to their short career. But they can all agree that Mantar is a top notch band that belongs to the elite. ‘Death by Burning’ , the album that introduced Mantar to the masses, is only 4 years old but unfortunately we can’t hear many references or relation to it. The sludge years are probably gone and the punkish black metal based on hoarse vocals, sharp riffs and hard hitting drumming may sound a bit cleaner than the early days as the production is now mostly polished but the ingredients have brave quantity of black metal full of tense and filth. Despite this, it seems that every album is a step further in terms of song writing, blending genres and influences and mostly without losing their characteristic doom sound. Once again they managed to keep a balance between melody and heaviness as all 12 songs have a dynamic attribution (even though I personally think that a dozen of tracks and almost 50 minutes of music is too much for a record) while lead vocalist/guitarist Hanno throat sounds more aggressive than their previous efforts. Truth be told the album closes emphatically with two great songs ‘Teeth of The Sea and ‘The Funeral’ but it would be wise to cut some minutes in order to make the final result a bit more tight or solid. A vicious, dark, hateful album based on the trademark catchy formula of ultra violence drumming, a couple of slow passages and ferocious guitars that create some memorable anthemic songs. Check out: ‘Age Of The Absurd’, ‘Seek + Forget’, ‘Midgard Serpent (Seasons Of Failure)’, ‘Dynasty Of Nails’ ,’Obey The Obscene’ and ‘Teeth Of The Sea’. And one last question: Is there anyone out there that noticed the absence of bass ? Please raise your hands all you (five or six) folks!!!
