MANTRIC

— First review of this album —

Mantric comes from Norway and is a band that has been around since 2007. Their music was originally a form of Tech/Extreme prog with lyrics that are Christian oriented. They didn't release an album until 2010 (called "The Descent") and another in 2015 (called "Sin"). It seems they release an album every 5 years, and sure enough, in 2020, they released their 3rd album "False Negative". Their first 2 albums were definitely centered in the Tech/Extreme style with both clean and dirty vocals, the music was very progressive and well constructed using all of the traits of the genre.

Their 3rd album, however, sees them taking a turn away from their original sound, even though the main trio of musicians on the 2nd album are still involved for this one. There is still a semblance of what they once were, but unfortunately, they seem to have taken on a more accessible sound with less progressiveness and more of an alternative, heavy feel. This is disappointing since the band showed some promise on "Sin" even though I have never been one to listen to Christian metal of any kind (on purpose anyway).

The change is obvious right from the first track. It starts off with "Polyanna" which tries to fool the listener into thinking that not much has changed with both clean and screaming vocals. However, the band has that alternative sound even in the instruments and the screaming vocals sound more like "screamo" than "extreme metal". The first half of the album continues mostly in this vein. "Queen Fatigue" features a harsh vocal based on a single one-note melody against a weak background accompaniment. "Norwegian Dastard is a bit more interesting, at least from a heavy standpoint, but it is not at all technical or progressive, just dark and somewhat interesting but with no emotions in the vocals and a repetitive piano chord sequence that borrows from r&b from the 50's. "Dawn" struggles along at first but eventually explodes and becomes more interesting, but only for a short time before it meanders back to its uninteresting melody.

The last four tracks are a bit better as "The Towering Mountain" gets more progressive and reflects a more extreme sound, but the vocalist still sounds more like a "screamo" singer. "Darling Demon" increases the ante a bit, but it's just too uninteresting to keep my attention for very long. "Starmonger" is the best track on the album, however, not for the reasons you might think as it is fairly atmospheric with only a few heavier spots. By the time it's over, there isn't really any excitement that lingers when the last track ends.

What edge the band possessed is mostly missing on this album that sees the band strive to increase its audience, but does so at a price that probably won't sit well for their previous audience. Because of it's strengths, it manages to pull off a 3 star rating, but those strengths are too far between as the band seems to have lost its edge that it had in their past albums. It's not a complete failure though, there are some passages that are salvageable, but the question is, is it enough to want to invest money or time in the album? For me, it's one that I won't come back to very often.