Formerly known as Thygrim and playing pagan orientated black metal these Germans changed their name to MNHG. It’s not quite a random moniker as it sounds and although at first I was scratching head wondering if they had chosen random consonants from a bag of Scrabble letters, it’s based on “Manheig” the Hebrew word for “leader” or “ruler”. With it came a move towards black n’roll and 2021 release Mundare. Now they are back with the follow-up.
With drums bouncing and an intent to crack skulls ‘The First Sacrifice’ is bloodily dispatched. With a punkish backbone and solid battering tumult from the musicians it’s the vocals that emphasis is directed to though. Elongated snarls are the main attacking force from lead singer Kain but there are also some clean hollering parts too (whether by him or backing vocalist Irrsinn) which have a big impact on proceedings and give it a devout slant. There’s also a snatch of throat-singing on this one and lead guitarist J is not averse to throwing in some solos amidst the tumult. I like the way that there’s plenty of zeal about this. Songs like ‘Fratricide’ make you want to jump up and down and if you have an annoying sibling you are urged to do so on their head. Bloody and merciless it might be, the enthusiasm here is enough to get you grinning as the songs lodge in your brain, so it’s far from grim and really rather enjoyable. Twanging bass thickly leads into a rhythm that is somewhat reminiscent of Satyricon fuelling their hatred on ‘Agony And Pain’ and the track lives up to name by delivering a damn good kicking. So to start we have a rollicking and groove-laden set of numbers with plenty of energy that are guaranteed to get heads a banging and that is exactly what you might expect from the rest of the album but…
It’s not all high velocity and speed is tempered on ‘Fall Of Wormwood’ as a mid-paced groove is enforced. Those vocals leap out and I should have mentioned they are in English so easy to follow along to which may help if you want to join in on the slow, devotional and more orthodox salute that is ‘Lucifer’s Claim.’ Seems the band are pretty solid at playing in this style too and the grandiosity of the number sticks out. Charge somewhat restrained the mix of styles are not necessarily set to knock your head off your shoulders from hereon in but everything has a formidable presence about it. There’s certainly an occult emphasis on the narrative too and as we reach concluding opus ‘Far From Home,’ with catchy refrain stating “There is no heaven in the sky, So I don’t want to die,” an unsettling dourness has set in at odds to the raging beginning.
MNHG are definitely not the sort of black n’roll band where every song follows the same path (although it’s firmly a left-hand one) and one should not get too accustomed to things without being prepared for a few sidesteps. The classic side of things is very much indoctrinated into the main-frame and one gets the feeling that the group are both maturing and progressing with ‘Necare,’ so who knows quite where they will go from here?
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
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