Navigating You Through the Progressive Underground

Genres: power metal, progressive metal (mostly clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Nevermore, later Symphony X, Blind Guardian
Country: Denmark
Release date: 26 January 2024

I was a big fan of Manticora’s 2020 album To Live to Kill to Live. My fellow reviewer Matt at the time put the record at the top of his album of the year list, and it was near the top of my list, too. In a genre primarily focused on melody and technicality, Manticora set themselves apart with sheer aggression and intensity through their incorporation of thrash—and later also death metal—influence. On To Live, everything they’ve been working on since their inception in 1996 came together, resulting in an utterly relentless album that was by all accounts far too much but kept you hooked like snorting an extra line of cocaine after nearly crashing your car out of fatigue from the last batch. Perhaps not the safest high but definitely a memorable one. 

Matching—let alone topping—a later career masterpiece is difficult for any band, and so instead the band decided to take a step back from the ambitiousness of To Live with Mycelium, cutting the runtime by about a quarter and casting aside the long songs, making this their shortest album since The Black Circus 2 in 2007. Length was never really an issue with me for Manticora, though. Their core sound is rather uniform, so the real question has always been whether they can give a steady enough cocaine supply to make you forget about the fatigue.

Sure enough, this is another Manticora record. Not even the opening interlude is safe from heavy, epic riffs and loudness, unleashing impending doom after less than thirty seconds that increasingly intensifies until they transition into the real opener “Necropolitans,” and the band pulls out all the stops to pummel the senses with their now familiar brand of death metal inspired riffs and frenetic drumming (which apparently the band programmed themselves entirely – props to them for making it sound so natural). Lars Larsen’s ever dramatic vocals wail on top for even more sensory overload with just enough control and sense of melody to make it work. “Demonday” is more of the same, assaulting you with more furious guitarwork, high intensity drumming, and commanding vocals. Clearly, the band’s cocaine dealership is still in business.

Surprisingly though, Manticora show some actual restraint on Mycelium. “Angel of the Spring” would almost qualify for a power ballad, and tracks like “Golem Sapiens” and “Mycelium” take a few mellower progressive detours as well, the spoken word in the former being tastefully incorporated in its tension-packed midsection, and the latter actually going for melodic riffs instead of MAXIMUM BRRR ALWAYS—a welcome change of pace. Also helping are the mellow intros to a sizable number of tracks such as the electronic opening of “Beast of the Fall” or the string and piano that form the interlude “Equinox” that continue well into “Mementopolis” before exploding. Worry not – there’s still plenty to snort here – but at least we’re not overdosing ourselves into the hospital.

However, I do have some measure of criticism against Mycelium. Even more so than usual I find the drums on the loud side, and too much treble on the lower end causes the guitars to sound muffled turning the bass into a footnote. Given how busy Manticora’s sound is, the listener needs as much breathing room in the mix as possible, so these mixing issues push something already overwhelming into something bordering on unpleasant at times, especially notable when a softer track like “Angel of the Spring” fails to give adequate room to breathe. What I also found lacking is the autopilot writing that plagues the final two tracks. “Mementopolis” at least has interesting blackened bits and a thrilling bridge but is only let down by its chorus, while the closer “Día de Los Muertos” just doesn’t offer anything the band hasn’t already done better elsewhere in their career and the way it unceremoniously fizzles out makes for a disappointing end to the album.

All around though, Mycelium is a solid release. As veterans of the genre, Manticora have found a sound that works for them and they’re sticking to it. The album doesn’t live up to their 2020 masterpiece To Live to Kill to Live, but it’s still highly entertaining either way and a few moments of well-timed restraint make it sound relatively fresh. If you’re feeling bogged down by life lately and need some energy, consider readying your mirror and prepare to snort, or, alternatively, put on Mycelium and let its energy run you through a brick wall or two.


Recommended tracks: Demonday, Angel of the Spring, Golem Sapiens
You may also like: Triumpher, DGM, Silver Talon, Hunted
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Metal-Archives page

Label: Mighty Music – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Manticora is:
– Lars F. Larsen (vocals)
– Kristian H. Larsen (guitars)
– Stefan Johansson (guitars)
– Kasper Gram (bass)


0 Comments

Leave a Reply