Album Review: Mantar - Ode To The Flame

No bass? No problem. The bludgeoning heaviness of this doom-orientated black-metal duo from Bremen, Germany is a lesson in the effectiveness of simplicity.

With a kick drum that collapses the sternum, a seemingly inexhaustible supply of hooks and vocals that sound like much of the lung lining was ejected in the process, Mantar's new record is a roundhouse blow to the eardrum and a promising development for both band and genre. Few would want to share a darkened alley with these two without an easy escape route.