Band's List Black Metal Lord Mantis Pervertor

As an American, I tend to listen to many different American bands since this is, after all, my homeland and I like to support as much as I can from what my country has to offer. Don't get me wrong, many, of my favorite bands are from tons of different countries around the world, and I prefer foreign music. It's just hard to find bands here that are worth talking about anymore since about 75% of them are shitty emo bands or just lame attempts at something heavy. Lord Mantis, on the other hand, makes me proud to have them in the dark depths of black metal, in the USA, a country not known for black metal, and proud to have them represent American black metal at it's finest. This incredible album is the very definition of what true American black metal should sound like: dark, cold, heartless, and very addictive.

Here's a bit of a back story on how I came across this gem: I was just browsing through my local record store when I spotted this sitting on a shelf with that sick and twisted cover, and I immediately loved it for that (I'm big on album covers). So, I picked it up and brought it home as a blind buy since I'd never heard of Lord Mantis before that day. How is it that I never heard of Lord Mantis? Well, the band isn't exactly that popular (as of this review, they currently have two stars in popularity on Spirit-of-Metal with only seven fans, including myself), but I can't quite figure out why.

The music is quite impressive and the songs manage to get better and better as the album progresses. It's not the type of record that gives it all it has within the first couple of tracks. It's a nice natural progression that grabbed my attention and managed to get stuck in my head for days. The music is dark, stressful (in a good way) and atmospheric. It's also quite chaotic and gives off a great mood. The droning of some of the songs fits in quite well with the rest of the music. It really makes me feel like I'm inside of the vocalist's twisted mind.

So, this is black metal. But, it also has elements of doom mixed in there as well (I don't do the multiple genre listing bullshit, it's either black or doom and to me, it's more black than doom). The song "Levia" is a good example of the band's doom element whereas "At the Mouth" really lays it on you with their unique black metal sound. That's another thing I absolutely love about Lord Mantis: they managed to take the genre of black metal and make their own style out of it. There's no way you could confuse them for any other band when you listen to them.

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed when I saw that there were only seven songs on the back of the album before I bought it, but they're lengthy enough to last a while without wearing out their welcome. I was very impressed with this record and I debated on whether or not I should give it an 18 or a 19 on here because I do, in fact, have one minor flaw with it ...

There are points where they get a little too slow and "drone-y" and I will sometimes find myself zoning out and having my mind wander, but I always come right back into it, though. So, since it's minor (but still a bit of an issue since it happens on every song), I'll be glad to give this diamond in the rough, this rare new album (that will surely make it in my top ten of this year), a solid 19/20.