MANTAR

Release Year: 2022
Artist Origin: GER
Style: energetic blackened sludge doom metal

fourth longplay recording already sees enigmatic German duo partly dismantling their own sonic foundation, eschewing the raw, noise-drenched sludge of earlier albums for a sharper, almost anthemic nihilism, where melody creeps in not as relief but as a cruel echo, guitars slash with post-punk angularity, and choruses emerge from the rubble like dead-eyed mantras, sounding unnervingly infectious; this is not a softening, but a calculated redefinition, where aggression is reframed through structure and hooks without sacrificing emotional violence, and where the signature two-man assault mutates into something leaner, colder, and perversely more accessible, suggesting that the real brutality lies not in volume or distortion, but in clarity and refusal to offer catharsis; first press three panel digipak edition