Year : 2018
Style : Progressive Power Metal
Country : Denmark
Audio : 320 kbps + front
Size : 131 mb
Bio:
MANTICORA was formed in 1997 by Lars Larsen (vocals), Kristian Larsen (guitars) and Mads Volf (drums). In the early days the band was a foursome with bass player Rene as the last member – the young guys laying the foundation of the MANTICORA-trademark sound; hard hitting power metal with both epic and thrash elements.In 1998 MANTICORA signed with Intromental Management and shortly afterwards their first record deal was signed with Greek record label Black Lotus. The same year the band added an extra guitarist, and a keyboardist, to the line-up. The debut full-length disc, “Roots Of Eternity”, was released in summer 1999, and received tremendously good response from both media and fans around the world.2000 saw the band signing with Scarlet Records, and half a year later the next opus, “Darkness With Tales To Tell”, was released, once again receiving great acclaim. In 2001 bassist Rene decided to leave the band to focus on his family. Kasper Gram was enrolled in the band. Along with the change of bassist came also the change of guitarist, as Flemming left MANTICORA and Martin Arendal joined the band.In the fall 2002 “Hyperion” was released. This was the so-far most wide-spanning work of the band; an epic concept album, based on the award winning sci-fi novel “Hyperion” by Dan Simmons. The album was whole-heartedly embraced by fans and media worldwide, and with a European tour in the spring 2003 MANTICORA took another step up the ladder.In early 2004 the band began working on and releasing their next disc, “8 Deadly Sins”, yet another conceptual one. The album was recorded in Jailhouse Studios with producer Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Pretty Maids, etc.). In February 2005 the band toured throughout Europe together with Angra and Edenbridge. The tour was a great success for the band and they made a lot of new fans and friends there. Joining the band, was session-guitarist Stefan Johansson. The band then did their first ever (highly successful) US appareance at the ProgPower Festival in Atlanta, GA.With Martin Arendal (guitars) returning to the fold after the tour, the band once again went into studio, to record it’s 5th full-length album, the first part of the 2-album concept “The Black Circus”. Lyrically it deals with the horror story of a travelling circus. Once again produced by Tommy Hansen, the album was bigger, better and more adventurous than ever before. After a mini-European tour, alongside Andromeda, MANTICORA hit Jailhouse Studio to finalize the 2nd part of “The Black Circus”. With “The Black Circus Part 2” in their now extended catalogue, MANTICORAwent on both European and USA tours, as support for Jon Oliva’s Pain, and another tour was booked for Europe in May 2009, as support band for Circle II Circle. This time, going through 16 countries for 21 shows.In 2010 MANTICORA’s 7th full length album was released worldwide. “Safe” was an even darker journey in the musical universe of MANTICORA. A European headliner tour was booked for October 2010, taking the band through nine different countries.In August 2012, MANTICORA finally performed at the world’s largest metal festival – Wacken Open Air, and it lead to the band, re-opening the goodie-bag of writing new material. April 2013, saw the band, playing the prestigious PPM festival in Belgium, and a month later, Martin Arendal played his last show with MANTICORA (a smaller Danish show). Stefan Johansson – who appeared as session musician on the 2005 Angra tour, was enrolled as new guitarist and when bassplayer Kasper Gram left the band, MANTICORA found a completely unknown, but indecently talented guy in Sebastian Andersen.After a European headliner tour in 2014, Mads Volf decided to leave the drum-throne, to pursue other musical endeavors, and the last 3 years, MANTICORA have spent, writing a grandiose double concept album, based on the book, that leadsinger Lars has written in the meantime.Release is set for 2018. Until then – stay metal!
Album:
From Copenhagen, Denmark, comes the quintet MANTICORA, with their new album “To Kill to Live to Kill;” their first new album in eight years. It’s a concept album; the first of two, based on the horror novel written by singer Lars F. Larsen, that the band has spent the last three years writing. The album contains twelve tracks.“Piano Concerto 1” is a brief one-minute opener. It has a sweet sound, with trumpets, piano and strings. In fact it is a pretty good guise to what follows in “Echoes of a Silent Scream.” The clouds darken threateningly as heavy thunder rolls in. Stylistically it’s somewhere in the realm of a marriage of Power and Thrash metal, with aggressive riffing and vocals in a high registry. The ominous sound is as a warning of sorts, especially when considering the supporting harsh vocals that rear up sporadically. “Through the Eyes of the Killer – Towering Over You” has a heavy and speedy sound. Along the way there are some riff and tempo variations which keep it a diverse listening experience. One thing you can also hear is attention to a complete songwriting process.“Katana – Awakening the Lunacy” has an instrumental opening with dark leanings. The vocals bring in some brighter elements at times but overall it remains in the shadows. It has layers as well and at times is reminiscent of IRON MAIDEN. “The Farmer’s Tale Pt. 1 – The Aftermath of Indifference” has some real chaos at first, but drops to a sweet instrumental passage before the big chorus hits. The Symphonic elements are there in between spaces but smartly never take over the song. The contrast between the heavier and softer moments is very well done here. “The Devil in Lisbon” is a six-minute instrumental with plenty of meaty guitar work. Though it holds down a central core, it twists and turns nicely. I would be remiss if I did not mention the thunderous drumming of Dinamarca, who plays with the confidence as if he was in the band all along.“Growth” is the behemoth song on the album, at close to ten minutes in length. At first it has a swinging rhythm, with vocals sung and answered back. It the settles into a mid-temp groove with some melancholy tones. There is some nimble guitar and bass work in an extended instrumental section. “Humiliation Machine” is an instrumental with a blistering pace. The fire spreads so quickly that you can only see the trail of smoke left behind. “Nothing Lasts Forever” opens with frail piano notes and strings. Spoken words lament the loss of a parent. The slower pace really opens up the song emotionally and steals hope from the world. Some of the connections in the key of the vocals and the music here don’t match to well however. “Katana – Opium” opens with a passage that has some Melodic Death Metal sound for me, but it moves to more of a Power Metal sound, with steady double bass and fast picked guitars. There is absolutely blistering lead guitar work here as well as shifting meters that they hit with deadly accuracy.“Through the Eyes of the Killer – Revival of the Muse that is Violence” takes another darker turn in the journey. There are some more downtrodden elements here but also some get-up-and-go in the music. Closing this beast of a concept album is the song “The Farmer’s Tale Pt. 2 – Annihilation at the Graves.” It has a culminating sound, mixing in clean and harsh vocals with doses of diverse passages that leave you guessing what might come next. Raging at times and reflective at others, it brings you to the end of the tale. This was a roaring juggernaut of a concept album, an after a few listens you can tell why something like this took so long to compose. Impeccable musicianship and a willingness to let the songs go in places that you might not expect really create something special to listen to. It does take some patience to really dig into the inner workings of the album, and you have to be willing to do so. On the cohesiveness of the music and story, songwriting and tightness of their performance, it’s a more than worthy effort in just that area alone. In the arena of ambitious efforts, it’s near the top, but the band pulled it off convincingly.
Line Up:
Kristian H. Larsen - Guitars
Lars F. Larsen - Vocals (Fool's Game, ex-Fear Itself, Moonchild (Iron Maiden tribute))
Sebastian Andersen - Bass
Stefan Johansson - Guitars (lead)
Guest:
Lawrence Dinamarca - Drums
Tracklist:
01. Piano Concerto 1: B Flat minor... 01:00
02. Echoes of a Silent Scream 06:03
03. Through the Eyes of the Killer: Towering Over You 06:15
04. Katana: Awakening the Lunacy 07:04
05. The Farmer's Tale (Part 1: The Aftermath of Indifference) 06:35
06. The Devil in Lisbon 05:40
07. Growth 09:19
08. Humiliation Supreme 02:43
09. Nothing Lasts Forever 05:48
10. Katana: Opium 05:44
11. Through The Eyes of the Killer: Revival of the Muse That Is Violence 07:28
12. The Farmer's Tale (Part 2: Annihilation at the Graves) 06:13
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