Manntis "Sleep in Your Grave" CD
[Century Media]
Wow, yeah... so this is one of the bands from that "Battle for Ozzfest" show, eh? I wonder if they'll ever live that down? I don't have cable so I only saw one or two episodes of the show, and I do remember thinking Manntis were one of the better bands participating, which doesn't necessarily mean much, but boy did I ever hate that band name... so it's unfortunate that they're stuck with it. I mean, let's face it: Manntis is a really bad band name. Poor designation aside, this is a competent debut full-length. Unoriginal? Yeah, but there are some promising riffs, the performances are on point, and the recording is pretty slick. Contained are 11 short tracks of two to three minutes each that draw from a variety of predominantly modern metalcore influences, so there are hints of the melodic Swedish stuff as well as memorably melodic chord progressions, chunky staccato rhythms, and vague hints at caustic discordance as well - with hoarse vocal screams taking the fore. Like many of their contemporaries the key pitfall is that even though the songs are concise, despite being capably arranged they don't always focus on their strengths or keep a linear sense of direction in motion, so there's a little bit of meandering that can get stale, and as is often the case with these bands the tremolo picking riffs are pretty flimsy. I can't really hang with the obnoxiously overzealous pinch harmonics in "Reflections of You" either, which is unfortunate since there are some great chord progressions in the track. And that's basically the story with this entire album: Every song has its finer points and its weaknesses, with few songs keeping it together in their entirety. "My Enemy", for example, is a little faster and has more of a traditional hardcore sense of energy to it, which is actually pretty fuckin' cool, but whey they layer in tremolo picking over the power chords it sounds senseless and stale, which takes away from what would've otherwise been one of the only flawless tracks herein. The more consistent "Resist and Overcome" has a few thrashier influences and nice dissonant textures blended against forceful staccato riffing, and the title track is well balanced and has some fluid transitions across different tempos as well. Closer "The Ends Where it Begins" is an acoustic ballad complete with singing vocals, and while not terrible, it is out of place, so it's good that they at least placed it at the end of the CD. I wouldn't rule out the use of acoustics or singing as having potential for the band in the future, but they ought to incorporate that variety into their usual framework, as this standalone track feels rather forced. As mentioned the production's pretty good. The mix is well balanced, the guitar tone works well when everything's full steam ahead (during some of the tremolo picking riffs or the areas where one guitar drops out the distortion feels a little thin and crispy, though), the drums are in check, and the vocals are fine. The bass gets lost in a way, but it's present enough to thicken up the core of the mix, and that's good enough in this particular case. The typical lyrics do nothing for me (your average base level "life is hard" kind of stuff), but I do think the layout looks strong. The presentation is consistent and I actually enjoy both the color scheme and the visuals, while the type is clean and legible. There's a typo on the back cover's tracklist ("reflections" has an unnecessary apostrophe), but that's something that only nitpicky nerds like me would notice. Overall I'd say these guys are best with the heavy yet melodic chord progressions and chunkier rhythms, so they ought to stay away from all the tremolo picking and pinch harmonics because that shit's a surefire snoozer and really deadens the impact of some of the better songs. The other Swedish-isms aren't so bad within the context of Manntis' approach, but since they're not really doing anything new it wouldn't hurt to push for something more out of that style as well. Honestly they might want to consider making their songs a little longer in addition to searching for more originality, because they're so often trying to cram so much into two minutes that the brevity ends up doing some damage to the songs actually feeling complete or memorable. But this is a young band, and as a debut this CD might've been rushed considering the circumstances with the TV show and whatnot, so... it's not a bad disc considering. It's as flawed as your average disc of this nature that crosses my path, but has a little added promise to pad it out, so... maybe they'll overcome the whole "Battle for Ozzfest" stigma after all? (6/10)
Running time - 28:36, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: My Enemy, Resist and Overcome, Sleep in Your Grave]
Century Media Records - http://www.centurymedia.com

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