Extoll the Virtues
Norwegian genre weavers Mantric passed a lot of people by back in 2010 when they released their first album of post-metal sounds but in 2015 we're fully on board. While the band undoubtedly base their approach in metallic sounds they explicitly alloy the woozy guitar influences of My Bloody Valentine and the grey hues of Justin Broadrick’s Jesu to more aggressive foundations to make an album that is at turns soft and dreamy, rough and violent. Sin is where light and dark meet.
The three founding musicians’ personal journey from Black Metal to Prog-Metal as members of Lengsel then Extol is charted on this second record as Mantric. Given Black Metal’s prominence in the make-up [corpse paint aside] of dozens of avant rock bands who go on to add psychedelic touches, folk instruments or electronics to its infamously strident philosophy you might expect Sin to just take the route of adding screeching vocals or tremolo picked riffs to standard post-rock and be another band in the crowd but the blend here is subtle and often rewarding.
Throughout Sin there is a cold, penetrating yet calm voice from vocalist Ole Sveen portraying sadness with no hint of the blues betraying that Black Metal grounding. The mid tempo, sliding fingers and rumbling bass of Give Me Eyes is instructive and would not be out of place on an Insomnium or Cult of Luna record. The pair of tracks Marantha and Anhedoniac, the former with its desolate banjo that continues in the mix not transiting or becoming engulfed by the crashing wave of the song’s main riff, the latter’s ringing guitar motif and un-tethered vocals strings - sums up this record’s spirit.
It’s not all Scandinavian frostiness, however, On the Horizon vacillates between riffs and ambience before wigging out on a Space Rock outro similar to something Humanfly knocked out on Awesome Science. Arrogance vs Anxiety is more punishing teaming Sveen’s and Tor Glidje’s voice in that well-worn harsh and melodic juxtaposition. There’s also room for Die Old’s jerky, Post-Punk riffs and poppier vocals and In the Shadow of My Soul has a proggy, angular guitar line and almost hard rock rhythm driving it along.
While Mantric has taken Glidje, Sveen and Mjaaland further from their strictly Metal beginnings, that is no surprise as they have shown themselves to be keen to spread out beyond boundaries and adept at adding techniques and influences from other genres to grow their sound making Sin one of the more worthwhile examples of Post-Metal/mongrel/unslavish heavy music of the last few years.