Mantric
Sin

Norwegian trio Mantric offers a sin, their second album is a sinful piece of music that follows five years after the band’s debut. The trio that make out Mantric may be fairly new to the scene as Mantric but as three fifths of the band Extol and playing together even before that, they do have a long experience of making music together. Extol made their final album and disbanded in 2007, the same year these three guys formed Mantric. Their music is described with words like pushing boundaries, artistic vision, unique and so on – the question then becomes; what do we think about it?

For one it is not an easy album just to place within a genre, which is the first thing that comes to mind. The second is that it sounds very Norwegian; I guessed they were Norwegian before I had read that they were. It is a little bit extreme metal, a little bit punk, a little bit progressive, it is an interesting sound and not easy to place – you can describe it as a little bit of everything. Heavy, atmospheric, with many ideas, kind of clever I would say – and it is quite attractive with a fairly cheap-sounding production that helps separate them from the common soundscapes. I think the growly song would have been better left out of the album as it does not really offer anything of value to the sound. Besides that it is good drive, decent vocals, good variation and interesting musical angles of approach. They offer something that is not made from the standard format and they have also been clever enough to keep the playing time in check so that you will not grow tired with the album before it ends.

It is musically interesting and it is well performed – still there are things that stop me from being captivated by the album, it is hard to put the finger on what it is as they offer something that feels fresh and it is really well made – maybe the songs just aren’t good enough. I think the album is a little flat, maybe too careful and a little too undramatic to really be captivating. But they still do what they do well so it is not an album just to dismiss, I think one should give it a real chance – especially if one wants something that is different from your everyday progressive metal album. Big plus to the band for finding their own voice, a voice that sounds pretty much like something of their own.

I do not really fall for any of the songs on this album, like I mentioned before it feels a little bit flat. But the songs are good and fresh, maybe it just is somewhat soulless – and maybe it just lacks that little extra that would have made this album brilliant. Nevertheless, it is quite entertaining but it doesn’t really leave any lasting impression – maybe it lacks that little bit extra that would have made this good album fantastic. It is fresh and fairly interesting but not good enough to stand out above the crowds of similar bands.

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