Manticora - To Live To Kill To Live

[introclaus]

I’ve patiently not said anything about this album although I’ve lived with it for the past 4 months or so, but now the cat’s out of the bag so to speak, as the album was released yesterday and y’all should have access to it through the various channels.

Let’s get the most important thing out of the way first; I love this album, and I will go as far as to say that it might be the very best of all their albums (composition wise, performance wise, production wise).

Based on Lars Larsen’s incredible novel “To Kill To Live To Kill”, the band now return with their second part of this horror/thriller story set to music. Lars is obviously known as the singer of this band, but to me he is also my friend of close to 25 years, my best-man in my wedding, and my former business partner for 20 years, so yes, I’m obviously incredibly biased when it comes to his band and his music, but let’s be real, I wouldn’t be spending my time on writing this or listening 30+ times to this album if I didn’t sincerely believe in its quality.

The beast that is Manticora has evolved over the years from the time this young band came down to the record store I worked at and handed me their self financed demo CD all those years ago, to their now 9th full length album, from a simplistic thrash meets power metal start, over epic/symphonic metal to a full fledged power metal act, through progressive leaning albums, and now to an album that truly unites all of it in one incredible disc that has parts of thrash, power, prog, symphonic, death metal and even world (or at least Japanese folk) music in it.

Starting off with the ~15 minute long “Katana - Moth & Dragonflies / Katana - Mud” song, which honestly sounds like if Nevermore, Blind Guardian, King Diamond and Symphony X had a very disturbed little baby, is a very brave choice and one that pays off incredibly well, kicking things off just the way it should be.

Through the next hour and 12 songs and interludes the band takes us on a roller coaster through all the aforementioned genres, supported by a phenomenal production by Jacob Hansen (and thank you for finally giving Lars’ vocals the production they deserve), and amazing performances by all band members. Knowing these guys as well as I do, having previously been their manager and friend for close to 20 years and toured with them multiple times throughout the world, it’s easy for me to “underestimate” how talented they truly are and just kind of expect what is going on as was it just another day at the office, but come on, credit is due and well deserved; Kristian’s rhythm guitar work is the backbone and soul of this band and has always been, and he is unstoppable here, Kasper is back on bass and it shows (I’ve always loved this dudes bass playing and in 2020 it’s still just as amazing as first time I heard him), Stefan’s leads are killer and fits the songs perfectly, and Lawrence is simply put just a monster behind the drums. And Lars? Well, fuck it, if you didn’t like his voice in the past, you probably won’t like it now either, but man, for those of us who love it, this is the heart of the band.

I could go on and describe each individual song, or even highlight the amazing guest performances (June Park from Clandestine guests on “Slaughter in the Desert Room” making it my favorite on the album) from a.o Michael from Withering Surface, Takeyoshi from Allegiance Reign and Sandie from Defacing God, but at the end of the day I’ll let the album speak for itself. “To Live...” is an exhausting (in a good way) listen that demands an open mind and a strong stomach (at least if you pay attention to the story-line).

Do I have any complaints? Well, yeah, but they are truly petite and petty; for one I think the artwork sucks (it’s messy and having the large M across the front on top of the imagery doesn’t look nice), and I think that from a pure commercial p.o.v. that flipping the album title from last disc (“To Kill To Live To Kill”) around will confuse more people than it’ll be worthwhile the “pun” or “statement” the guys are going for here, and that in return will end up in lower sales than otherwise. But yeah, those are some quite minor complaints.

As said, it’s most likely the BEST of all the Manticora albums so far, but it’s not my favorite album. I still will be a hardcore fan of “Hyperion” above all their other releases, as it signifies a very special period in my life and my time with the band. With that said, it doesn’t take anything away from “To Kill...” as it is one of this years very best albums for me.

https://youtu.be/Nrpm_xoPyIc

[introclaus]

New single/video out now:
https://youtu.be/JfXzNOJKn2Y

[BumZen]

Love this album. An easy candidate for album of the year for me. It's unmistakenly Manticora, but it's impressive how they manage to evolve all the time. I could live without some of the atmospheric moments, but it's my only "complaint."
Slaughter in the Desert Room, Goodbye Tina, Katana - Beheaded and Eaten by the Beasts are all instant classics for me.