I would never intentionally start a war over it, but Metal Blade Records is my absolute favorite label. Brian Slagel does a phenomenal job at picking out the absolute best; it’s a brilliant feature.
Mantar took me by surprise. The last album they put out, Pain is Forever and This Is The End, was very wintery in substance, giving the vibes of intolerance to cabin fever. It was an odd paradigm for what I know of the sludge metal enthusiasts’ romantic ritual of early morning coffee and cigarettes while indulging in a good musical philosophy. Mantar holds nothing back; their display is what knocks you on your ass. They are two guys who have grit in their style and superhuman strength that compensates for seemingly absent instruments. It’s ridiculously cool.
For neurotic reasons unknown, I felt like listening to the new album, Post Apocalyptic Depression, in the order of their longest tracks to their least long tracks. Starting with track 12.
“Cosmic Abortion” is the longest track on the album and has the most incinerating lyrics; it tops the second-largest track by four seconds. It opens up with this ghoulish funeral-style intro that makes you feel like you’re walking through a cemetery in the fog and then jumps right into the perfect apocalypse jam, leaving you feeling like Rob Zombie grocery shopping at the CO-Op on the day the nuclear bomb dropped. The lyricism reads like a poet’s death walk through the end of the world.
“Halsgericht” is the second longest track, and they’ve decorated it with an epic video displaying their undeniable humor in the face of cosmic reciprocity. The organic chaos that went into creating this album is wildly virtuous, and you can hear it very well on this track. It pin-pricks at the heart of what differentiates between a true “On the Spot” recording and that of massive overproduction; this track is from a place of vicious human intellectual expression. These men are so pissed by the stupidity of mankind, but they won’t miss the opportunity to turn it into a maniacal joke. The guys also take their shirts (and pants) off, exploiting their black underwear sass and devotion to AC/DC.
The third longest track, and my absolute favorite on the album, is “Principle of Command.” It is an absolute bop, car jam, scream every word like a liberal union with a dark deity. I love how these guys incorporate such authentic tonology, most of the album plays like classic rock but reads like someone talking mad shit on a dynasty level. You can feel the world they grew up in, and they put the pieces together with such a provocative distinction with Hanno’s vocals. It’s impossible to disconnect, and impossible to get out of my brain once it’s there.
This album was recorded in a live setting at Black Bear Studios down in Gainesville, Florida. Ryan Williams is the man behind the final touches and is also the exceptional hand in other excellent bands like Hot Water Music and Bitemarks.
Every track on this album is fluent, graceful, transfigurative, and by far moving on the level of anarchy in the form of words. The spirit of this album is one of standing firm against a rising tide of organized religious dichotomies. This album is a power core for the sludge metal nation and will give you the energy you need to put the middle finger up where it matters.
You can obsess over Mantar like I did at the following internet spaces:
https://www.facebook.com/MantarBand
https://www.instagram.com/mantarband/
https://www.mantarband.com
https://mantar.bandcamp.com/music
https://mantar.bigcartel.com/products
Mantar’s Post Apocalyptic Depression was released on February 14, 2025, and is available to order at this location.
