At a mere three years old this Hamburg duo have created a moderate stir in the metal cesspool of late. Comprising of vocalist /guitarist Hanno Klaenhardt and Erinc Sakarya on drums this gruesome twosome mix up elements of Black Metal, Doom and Punk to offer up an “Ode to Flames” their second full length release. From a rudimentary trip down the interweb highway I find them described frequently as “sludge”. Hmm this says more to me about the zeitgeist surrounding that particular subgenre than it does about what Mantar actually sound like. Every PR needs a peg to hang summat on eh?
Opener Carnal Rising gallops along reminding me of I (featuring Abbath before he started lurching about and ruining shows). There is a great darkness to the Mantar sound which is less grim and frostbitten and more eerie and ominous. “The Hint” see’s Hanno sounding like Rob the Baron from Amebix and Tau Cross and there is certainly a flavour of the latter’s pagan/ gothic charm. “Praise the Plague” mixes Norwegian industrial BM with some big groove metal riffs to great effect and it even has a beat you can dance to! “Era Borealis” that follows is a death punk stomper without a hint of a devillock. The refrain of “This is era borealis. This is death Uber Alles!” deserves to chanted by a drunken crowd in a darkened tent at a fest this summer. Let’s hope it is.
“Born Reversed” opens with a swaggering Desert Rock riffs that disarms me. This is Fu Manchu territory not Hamburg Black/Sludge etc. The riffs sound great but the song feels tacked together with stark BM verses stuffed in-between rifforama retro rock. It sounds interesting but puts the brakes on what came before. “Oz” that follows manages to pull it off (ooh err) better in my mind. Here the mix of spiralling riffs, thumping drums and spiky leads comes off like Bathory and Orange Goblin fucking in the glow of a burning wicker man. Talking of Christopher Lee, he would be proud of the eerie organ intro to I Omen . A deathly, rumbling, ominous slab of a track which extols starkness and filthy textured brutality in equal measures. The vocal fades to a distant echo before the track pounds back in like a movie monster. “I am the ghost within” Yes you bloody are!
“Cross the Cross” is the most recent radio single and is a rocker. The riff at the beginning reminds me –bizarrely- of Box Hill or Bust by Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts. What follows is a Darkthrone/Clutch/Amebix hybrid that has at its heart a bikers drinking anthem. “Schwanenstein” foregoes any such beers in the air for horns aloft moments instead. Massive riffs chugging like a 50 foot woman crushing all and sundry under her pedicured toes. Like Godflesh with the batteries taken out or Tau Cross with extra Celtic Frost this bastard offers up five and half minutes of swirling assault before calming into a minutes worth of chill out to let us all catch our breath.
All good things must come to an end “Sundowning” puts the full stop on “Ode to Flames” and almost in preparation for the inertia to come this one chugs and pounds with the doom turned up to 10. For me it brings to mind the final scene in Ben Wheatley’s excellent Kill List. As the sheer horror of the recent events become clear to the protagonist but he realises what he truly is. This track is the final indoctrination into the cult of Mantar. One I want to join rather than some BOC covers band dressed in Vatican sportswear.
Ignore the calls to pigeonhole this release into current trends and blast it in your lugholes. These boys have got summat good going .
(8.5/10 Matt Mason)
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