Jump to content

What Are You Listening To?


khaos

Recommended Posts

Mantar - Pain is Forever and This Is the End (2022)

Number six on my top nine releases of 2022.

Although I have seen various covers for Mantar releases over the years I only recently joined the dots to their music.  The world of sludge, whilst far from unfamiliar to me is also not a regularly trodden path for me either.  Having no past experience of the band made listening to Pain Is Forever and This Is The End quite an organic experience and what started out as a cursory listen off the back of an interview I read, soon become a regular play most days.  It is not often that an unplanned listen breaches my (albeit lose) code of using Trello to map out my listening but Mantar have a sort of ugly catchiness to them that appeals to my dark heart I guess.

Whilst I would not say that music like Mantar's is the reason that I got into metal, it most certainly is an example of why I have continued to listen to this form of music for over thirty years.  PIFaTITE is a dirty record.  It is full of middle finger in the air, raised to the entire world, calling out all the bullshit of life from the highest rooftop.  The irreverence it has is mature in form and is not simply angry grown men shouting about how unfair or unjust things are.  It is a record that pricks at your skin as opposed to slicing or slashing it, like a cat kneading your flesh for attention, its claws just catching the very surface of your skin without needing to penetrate too far to get the result it craves.

The infectious nature of tracks like Hang 'Em Low (So the Rats Can Get 'Em) and Grim Reaping draw their hooks across you as opposed to just burying them in and in a way this is the flaw of the record.  Once I have been infected by these hooks, I want more.  By way of comparison, there are other tracks on here that I still cannot hear as I look at the tracklisting despite me having played this album regularly.  Of Frost and Decay and Horder just have no memorability and this creates a sense of imbalance on the record.

Overall though it is the simple plug in and play value of this record makes it such a pleasure to listen to. No levels of complexity to work through, no layers to unpick and no delusions of grandeur to manage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Two days of Christmas with my daughter  joining us on the 26th  as she had 3 straight nightshifts through the 25th plus cold temperatures keeping me homebound more than usual and most of the afternoon yesterday at a Toyota dealership has resulted in my catching up on some marathon listening reevaluating my 2022 albums and investigating possible new ones:

Spurred by Navy's: listening:

  • The Cult (a longtime favorite band of mine, didn't even know they released anything in 2022)-Under the Midnight Sun and King's X (Gretchen Goes to Nebraska is buried somewhere in my collection)-Three Sides of One

And

  • Clutch/Surprise on Slaughter Beach
  • Wovenhand-Silver Slash
  • Bill Callahan-YTI⅃AƎЯ (singer songwriter)
  • Luces Lejanas-Partida (post metal)
  • Phobophilic-Enveloping Absurdity
  • Candy-Heaven is Here
  • Archenspire-Hostile Architecture
  • AEVITERNE-The Ailing Facade
  • Alixonfire-Otherness (post punk)
  • Mantar-The Pain is Forever and this is the End
  • 40 Watt Sun-Perfect Light
  • Antichrist Emporium-III
  • Darkthrone-Astral Fortress
  • Autopsy-Morbidity Triumphant
  • Blackbraid-Blackbraid I
  • Cavernlight-As I Cast Ruin Upon the Lens That Reveals My Every Flaw
  • Big Thief-Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (Indie folk)
     
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, markm said:

Two days of Christmas with my daughter  joining us on the 26th  as she had 3 straight nightshifts through the 25th plus cold temperatures keeping me homebound more than usual and most of the afternoon yesterday at a Toyota dealership has resulted in my catching up on some marathon listening reevaluating my 2022 albums and investigating possible new ones:

Spurred by Navy's: listening:

  • The Cult (a longtime favorite band of mine, didn't even know they released anything in 2022)-Under the Midnight Sun and King's X (Gretchen Goes to Nebraska is buried somewhere in my collection)-Three Sides of One

And

  • Clutch/Surprise on Slaughter Beach
  • Wovenhand-Silver Slash
  • Bill Callahan-YTI⅃AƎЯ (singer songwriter)
  • Luces Lejanas-Partida (post metal)
  • Phobophilic-Enveloping Absurdity
  • Candy-Heaven is Here
  • Archenspire-Hostile Architecture
  • AEVITERNE-The Ailing Facade
  • Alixonfire-Otherness (post punk)
  • Mantar-The Pain is Forever and this is the End
  • 40 Watt Sun-Perfect Light
  • Antichrist Emporium-III
  • Darkthrone-Astral Fortress
  • Autopsy-Morbidity Triumphant
  • Blackbraid-Blackbraid I
  • Cavernlight-As I Cast Ruin Upon the Lens That Reveals My Every Flaw
  • Big Thief-Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (Indie folk)
     

Quite the list there. I haven't listened to that new Clutch album, but I surely will before too long. Will probably see them on tour before long too. I've caught them 6 times in the past 4 years and they always put on a heck of a show. I don't find their new output as compelling as say Blast Tyrant and earlier, but nothing I'll turn off. Neither that Cult or King's X albums will make my EOTY, but they did make it into my collection.

NP: Skare -Skare

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, markm said:

Two days of Christmas with my daughter  joining us on the 26th  as she had 3 straight nightshifts through the 25th plus cold temperatures keeping me homebound more than usual and most of the afternoon yesterday at a Toyota dealership has resulted in my catching up on some marathon listening reevaluating my 2022 albums and investigating possible new ones:

Spurred by Navy's: listening:

  • The Cult (a longtime favorite band of mine, didn't even know they released anything in 2022)-Under the Midnight Sun and King's X (Gretchen Goes to Nebraska is buried somewhere in my collection)-Three Sides of One

And

  • Clutch/Surprise on Slaughter Beach
  • Wovenhand-Silver Slash
  • Bill Callahan-YTI⅃AƎЯ (singer songwriter)
  • Luces Lejanas-Partida (post metal)
  • Phobophilic-Enveloping Absurdity
  • Candy-Heaven is Here
  • Archenspire-Hostile Architecture
  • AEVITERNE-The Ailing Facade
  • Alixonfire-Otherness (post punk)
  • Mantar-The Pain is Forever and this is the End
  • 40 Watt Sun-Perfect Light
  • Antichrist Emporium-III
  • Darkthrone-Astral Fortress
  • Autopsy-Morbidity Triumphant
  • Blackbraid-Blackbraid I
  • Cavernlight-As I Cast Ruin Upon the Lens That Reveals My Every Flaw
  • Big Thief-Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (Indie folk)
     

Haha my takeaway from this post was: fuckin' hell, those assholes kept him at that Toyota dealership a long goddamn time! Why do they always keep you there for so many hours? Can't they find a way to get everything ready before you get there so you can just sign a couple of papers, then get the keys and drive away? Last three times I bought a new car (the only 3 times tbh) '09, '15, '18, I feel like the combined time I had to spend waiting around with my thumb up my ass at the dealerships would have been equivalent to a 40 hour work week.

 

Type O Negative - Dead Again, this has become a real go-to daytime album. Black metal will be commencing shortly.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, MacabreEternal said:

Mantar - Pain is Forever and This Is the End (2022)

Number five on my top eight releases of 2022.

 

Overall though it is the simple plug in and play value of this record makes it such a pleasure to listen to. No levels of complexity to work through, no layers to unpick and no delusions of grandeur to manage.

I dig this one, too. Haven't picked it up yet but that will probably change! The dirty crusty punk metal bare knuckled Motorhead vibe meets sludge is pretty rad.

10 hours ago, navybsn said:

Quite the list there. I haven't listened to that new Clutch album, but I surely will before too long. Will probably see them on tour before long too. I've caught them 6 times in the past 4 years and they always put on a heck of a show. I don't find their new output as compelling as say Blast Tyrant and earlier, but nothing I'll turn off. 

Blast Tyrant is in a league of its own. I'd put that album up with any hard rock album of any era-it's so good. The new one, from one listen  is pretty solid overall and moody with some cool textures. 

Mother of Graves/ Where the Shadows Adorn (2022)-melo-doomdeth (Dan Swano master)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JamesT said:

Bullet - "Highway Pirates" (album)

Such a criminally underrated band!

 

Highway Pirates - Album by Bullet | Spotify

Never heard of 'em. Sounds like early 80's Accept meets AC/DC meets Quiet Riot. (and 100 other heavy metal bands no one remembers anymore from 1982) Was expecting the vox to be a bit more shrill, but they really weren't bad at all. That's generally what it comes down to for me with this retro style of heavy metal. I don't know about criminally underrated, more like unknown or overlooked, but either way I definitely did not hate this at all. Probably one of the better modern day AC/DC clones I've ever heard. Not sure if this record would stand up to repeat listens though. (for me anyway)

I find it hilarious to learn that they're Swedish, I totally would have guessed Indiana or someplace like that. Must be the vintage American car on the cover made me think that. Should have known, the fat dude kinda looks a little like Messiah. Very first thing that struck me about the album cover though is the dude sititng on the hood of the car (bass player) basically looks just like me 40 years ago. Minus the white kicks, I never adopted that part of the uniform.

Anyway, thanks for the early 80's nostalgia blast Jimmy T-Bone!

 

Bullet - Heading for the Top (Official Video)

 

Bullet - Stay Wild (Official Video)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, KillaKukumba said:

Hellish Crossfire and Winds of War were both good albums, but I don't think they replicated their 80's stuff with their last two albums.

This is why 80's bands are better left in the 80's. None of them have ever been able to replicate or even produce a reasonable facsimile of their classic 80's material many decades later. Not that they should even be expected to, but I'm just sayin'. I'm happy to have the 80's albums from the 80's bands I was into, and with very few exceptions I'm also happy to just ignore all the newer stuff like it never happened.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, markm said:

Reportedly, their earlier output is rawer. I think Pain is Forever might be too polished for your tastes. 

I'm 30 minutes in now. Rawer is always a plus. I like this, it's not raw, but polished is not a word that seems applicable here either. They're calling these Germans sludge metal, and I'm not quite sure what that's supposed to mean or how I would attempt to describe this or what sub-genre(s) I would try to force this thing into, but I reckon that's a good thing and their indescribability contributes to why I like this. I'm not hearing any crust punk or Motorhead here, but I do like what I am hearing which is a vast array of other random little things. Wish it was a little riffier, but I like this enough that I will be sure to look up their previous records and give them a shot too.

 

Alright I've found an older video from their Ode to the Flame album (2016) and yeah I like this better. Gives me a somewhat different impression of the band.

MANTAR - Cross the Cross 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Join Metal Forum

    joinus-home.jpg

  • Our picks

    • Whichever tier of thrash metal you consigned Sacred Reich back in the 80's/90's they still had their moments.  "Ignorance" & "Surf Nicaragura" did a great job of establishing the band, whereas "The American Way" just got a little to comfortable and accessible (the title track grates nowadays) for my ears.  A couple more records better left forgotten about and then nothing for twenty three years.  2019 alone has now seen three releases from Phil Rind and co.  A live EP, a split EP with Iron Reagan and now a full length.

      Notable addition to the ranks for the current throng of releases is former Machine Head sticksman, Dave McClean.  Love or hate Machine Head, McClean is a more than capable drummer and his presence here is felt from the off with the opening and title track kicking things off with some real gusto.  'Divide & Conquer' and 'Salvation' muddle along nicely, never quite reaching any quality that would make my balls tingle but comfortable enough.  The looming build to 'Manifest Reality' delivers a real punch when the song starts proper.  Frenzied riffs and drums with shots of lead work to hold the interest.


      There's a problem already though (I know, I am such a fucking mood hoover).  I don't like Phil's vocals.  I never had if I am being honest.  The aggression to them seems a little forced even when they are at their best on tracks like 'Manifest Reality'.  When he tries to sing it just feels weak though ('Salvation') and tracks lose real punch.  Give him a riffy number such as 'Killing Machine' and he is fine with the Reich engine (probably a poor choice of phrase) up in sixth gear.  For every thrashy riff there's a fair share of rock edged, local bar act rhythm aplenty too.

      Let's not poo-poo proceedings though, because overall I actually enjoy "Awakening".  It is stacked full of catchy riffs that are sticky on the old ears.  Whilst not as raw as perhaps the - brilliant - artwork suggests with its black and white, tattoo flash sheet style design it is enjoyable enough.  Yes, 'Death Valley' & 'Something to Believe' have no place here, saved only by Arnett and Radziwill's lead work but 'Revolution' is a fucking 80's thrash heyday throwback to the extent that if you turn the TV on during it you might catch a new episode of Cheers!

      3/5
      • Reputation Points

      • 10 replies
    • I
      • Reputation Points

      • 2 replies
    • https://www.metalforum.com/blogs/entry/52-vltimas-something-wicked-marches-in/
      • Reputation Points

      • 3 replies

    • https://www.metalforum.com/blogs/entry/48-candlemass-the-door-to-doom/
      • Reputation Points

      • 2 replies
    • Full length number 19 from overkill certainly makes a splash in the energy stakes, I mean there's some modern thrash bands that are a good two decades younger than Overkill who can only hope to achieve the levels of spunk that New Jersey's finest produce here.  That in itself is an achievement, for a band of Overkill's stature and reputation to be able to still sound relevant four decades into their career is no mean feat.  Even in the albums weaker moments it never gets redundant and the energy levels remain high.  There's a real sense of a band in a state of some renewed vigour, helped in no small part by the addition of Jason Bittner on drums.  The former Flotsam & Jetsam skinsman is nothing short of superb throughout "The Wings of War" and seems to have squeezed a little extra out of the rest of his peers.

      The album kicks of with a great build to opening track "Last Man Standing" and for the first 4 tracks of the album the Overkill crew stomp, bash and groove their way to a solid level of consistency.  The lead work is of particular note and Blitz sounds as sneery and scathing as ever.  The album is well produced and mixed too with all parts of the thrash machine audible as the five piece hammer away at your skull with the usual blend of chugging riffs and infectious anthems.  


      There are weak moments as mentioned but they are more a victim of how good the strong tracks are.  In it's own right "Distortion" is a solid enough - if not slightly varied a journey from the last offering - but it just doesn't stand up well against a "Bat Shit Crazy" or a "Head of a Pin".  As the album draws to a close you get the increasing impression that the last few tracks are rescued really by some great solos and stomping skin work which is a shame because trimming of a couple of tracks may have made this less obvious. 

      4/5
      • Reputation Points

      • 4 replies
×
×
  • Create New...