When was the last time have you ever felt disturbed by a song? Not through psychology but through how grotesque is the subject matter. Music that was specifically designed and engineered to make you feel gross. Was it Butchered at Birth? Or the amazingly detailed, description in the vegan propaganda by way of Cattle Decapitation's Forced Gendered Reassignment?
Both takes "disturbing" to a different level. The idea was too push forward boundaries on what is acceptable in the realm of freedom of speech. In the words of Carcass's Jeff Walker in Sam Dunn's Metal Evolution;
"Dead corpse, dead corpse. Human or animal? What's the big deal?"
As time goes by, imitators go through the revolving door, trying to emulate these records. Some take gore to cartoon-ish levels that you can't help wonder if those bands are just parodies. It makes us wonder if the Metal scene has become too desensitized that any attempt to push buttons is futile. So what angle do bands go to after when gore, religion and even politics have been attacked?
Blackened Sludge monsters, Lord Mantis takes a different approach in stuffing it into your face. Knowing how the Metal scene has been masochist, male dominated and fueled by testosterone, the band decides to serve up an image of a tortured hermaphrodite instead. Though not the first band to do so, and they had previously used an amputated, gender switched Jesus Christ on a crucifix on their previous album before, the band was successful into making people feel disturbed.
What's best about the band attacking our senses is that they managed to question us, whether did we feel disturbed due to the violence demonstrated or the fact that the Metal scene still fears the exploration of sexuality in the scene.
They force you to ponder how violence has been done upon the transgender community and how Metal, despite being a case for misfits, haven't been the best scene for transgenders to mingle around.
Even women, despite how legitimate their taste are, has to make themselves more legitimate and have proof themselves, before hanging out with the boys. At that point, you realize that Metal isn't the escape from an oppressive force that we pretend to have, but an extension of a patriarchal society, extending their arms, to lock the doors to our "exclusive" club.
More family friendly-art so that you can buy the album as a Christmas gift for your 12 year old niece!
(Make sure she doesn't google the album title.)
But this isn't a review on Jef Whitehead's art and the political critique that the band wishes him to espouse, nor is this an essay in a Gender Studies class. So the question now that might be ringing in the reader's head is that, whether the music corresponds to how disturbing is the material presented. Lord Mantis's music, throughout the years, shows the transition of disturbing imagery in Metal like the paragraph above. When they started off, the band's debut sounded cartoon-ish and almost into Municipal Waste like territory. Given, that they still play Sludge but the music shows that the band is still growing up. Their second album, Pervertor has a more matured sounding tone, but still looking for an actual sound to latch themselves onto. To be fair, that is how most experimental bands work. This album of theirs is a few notches of Pervertor by giving us the heaviest, Sludge riffs the band has ever written and with Black Metal shrieks that sounds like the screams of a man, narrating your death, while him being tortured at the same time.
The guitars come crushing in, by repeating those huge Sludgy riffs and are able to use monotony to their advantage. The best way to explain this concoction is to imagine a band playing Brutal Death Metal without using the elements of such. The tracks are slow, brooding and uses the thickest of all distortion applicable to a Sludge breakdown and play it like a slam riff. The fast brutal parts, normally associated with Death Metal, now is replaced and comes in the form of the faster Hardcore Punk influenced Sludge, with drums that blast like a Black Metal record.
While heavily influenced by Black Metal, especially it's more perverted forms, the band utilizes riffs off the e-string rather than tremolos that is normally used in the Scandinavian form. Tracks like Possession Prayer, uses the drums in a tribal state, that almost reflects the track title. The drums goes into a form of frantic and the vocals goes into frenzy territory that reminds me of the scarier moments of Anaal Nathrakh.
The stand out track for me would be Negative Birth, that probably has the most Black Metal influence in comparison. In fact, for most of the song is on a full on blast that could easily remind you of the gnarlier moments of Gorgoroth but the bass carries on the Sludge influence. While at breaks from the Black Metal fury the guitars were carrying the band was not afraid to pull off Sludge riffs, without compromising the song. Later on the album, the band goes into Doom Metal territory, as if showing off the range that the band has.
The last track Three Crosses though entertaining, seems to be a huge change in tone where the music becomes more and more melodic. In fact, I would say this crosses into Doom/Black category. Even the vocals here seem to be on a higher register, highlighting the Blackened atmosphere, well treading into Deppressive territory at times, crossed with guitar leads that could very well be on a Jesu track. In fact, I was half waiting for clean vocals to come in.
The guitars come crushing in, by repeating those huge Sludgy riffs and are able to use monotony to their advantage. The best way to explain this concoction is to imagine a band playing Brutal Death Metal without using the elements of such. The tracks are slow, brooding and uses the thickest of all distortion applicable to a Sludge breakdown and play it like a slam riff. The fast brutal parts, normally associated with Death Metal, now is replaced and comes in the form of the faster Hardcore Punk influenced Sludge, with drums that blast like a Black Metal record.
While heavily influenced by Black Metal, especially it's more perverted forms, the band utilizes riffs off the e-string rather than tremolos that is normally used in the Scandinavian form. Tracks like Possession Prayer, uses the drums in a tribal state, that almost reflects the track title. The drums goes into a form of frantic and the vocals goes into frenzy territory that reminds me of the scarier moments of Anaal Nathrakh.
The stand out track for me would be Negative Birth, that probably has the most Black Metal influence in comparison. In fact, for most of the song is on a full on blast that could easily remind you of the gnarlier moments of Gorgoroth but the bass carries on the Sludge influence. While at breaks from the Black Metal fury the guitars were carrying the band was not afraid to pull off Sludge riffs, without compromising the song. Later on the album, the band goes into Doom Metal territory, as if showing off the range that the band has.
The last track Three Crosses though entertaining, seems to be a huge change in tone where the music becomes more and more melodic. In fact, I would say this crosses into Doom/Black category. Even the vocals here seem to be on a higher register, highlighting the Blackened atmosphere, well treading into Deppressive territory at times, crossed with guitar leads that could very well be on a Jesu track. In fact, I was half waiting for clean vocals to come in.
Judging from most broke Sludge bands, they probably live there too.
Despite how much I enjoy the album, there are several things that I don't get from the album. The track "You Will Gag For Your Fix" seems like a misplaced interlude that does not correspond with the rest of the album.
In fact, it could have been shorter, and just been slapped with Negative Birth to create one track. The build up felt like it was leading to something, only to face a dead end. The track doesn't even try to flow into Negative Birth. Another thing that perplexed me was the "robot voice" vocals in Coil. But that didn't get to me long, it was surprising me at first because I didn't expect it but I got used to it at the 2nd listen.
To sum it all up, the band takes Sludge into a different territory, by bursting into Black Metal when appropriate, as if trying to make a statement against the Shoegaze influenced Post-Black Metal bands that has been popular in the past few years.
It's as if Lord Mantis is trying to tell the rest of the world, there are many other ways to do the melodramatic build up that the Post-Rock bands have been trying to do. Sludge could be one of it, rather than creating half baked hybrids of Godspeed! You Black Emperor.
If the Post-Black Metal bands were using Post Rock in building up scenes of drama, then Lord Mantis is using Sludge to build up towards the horrific scenes in torture porn.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lordmantisofficial
Bandcamp: http://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/death-mask
It's as if Lord Mantis is trying to tell the rest of the world, there are many other ways to do the melodramatic build up that the Post-Rock bands have been trying to do. Sludge could be one of it, rather than creating half baked hybrids of Godspeed! You Black Emperor.
If the Post-Black Metal bands were using Post Rock in building up scenes of drama, then Lord Mantis is using Sludge to build up towards the horrific scenes in torture porn.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lordmantisofficial
Bandcamp: http://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/death-mask
Terence A. Anthony commutes between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. Co-Founder of Aural Chaos. He also writes for Greater Malaysia and Opinions Unleashed.