‘Spawning The Nephilim’ the 2009 debut album from Lord Mantis must have escaped me but obviously it must have had some good points to get the group signed from a more obscure label to Candlelight Records. The Chicago based band are a bit of a brotherhood of like minded individuals with a lot of talent behind them. We have 2 members of Nachtmystium (Charlie Fell and Andrew Markuszewski) both of whom have plenty of other bands behind them; Von, Avichi etc and there is also Indian drummer Bill Bumgardner in the group. So with that in mind it is obvious that the musicianship is going to be pretty impressive as well as no doubt a little on the nasty side too.
This is no easy to categorise act as the band flirt with a lot of different ideas from black, to doom to sludge but it is quick to see that things are all melded together with finesse and a huge melodic bite due to the excellent guitar riffing from Markuszewski (whose Avichi album The Devil’s Fractal’ was a master-class in itself) and second strummer Deuce. We get a thunderous entry as ‘Pervertor Of The Will’ cranks into action and the main vocals are highly slung and caustic as they are pitched out at full velocity. My first thoughts are to compare a bit to Today is The Day and this certainly has that sort of ravenous bite about it. This gives you a dragged through the hedge sort of workout and windswept though it is it is also deliriously accessible with powerhouse laden melody coursing through it. You find yourself quickly overloaded by the clamour and hate spat out venomously here. The thudding drums hammer the message and the beats home on ‘Septichrist’, playing it loud and gazing at the sacrilegious and excellent old-school cover art (very Icons Of Filth) should have you in no doubt where this lot are coming from.
There are only seven songs but they are all between 5-9 minutes and have plenty going on in them, the main aim may well be to batter you into submission but they flow with skill and ease, drawing you into their grasp and spitting you back out again. Like a swarm of locusts (well they are close enough to the mantis are they not) the central riffs of ‘Vile Divinity’ descend and strip everything bare like a plague. This mid paced stomper is heavy as fuck and the weighty might of it flattens all and ends in obliterating white noise that’s akin to being blasted by a solar flare, excellent! Wait till you hear the crystalline guitars melody behind ‘Levia’ someone forgot the thon but was it needed as this one is a beast of a number with massive pulses charged through it and humungous surges of muscular rhythm. Each and every song seems to cause more devastation and impact, the longest track ‘Ritual Killer’ being a particularly nasty and dirty soundtrack for someone getting ready to go out for a night on the kill. Finally we get towards the end feeling both drained and invigorated. Last track with its Bava inspired title ‘The Whip And The Body’ is a really choppy sounding number with a bit of a primitive tribal beat flowing through it in a punch drunk swaggering fashion. Then comes the silence and you wonder if the album has left you completely stone deaf.
Violent and vile, harmonic and discordant, destructive and hateful are all very good descriptions you could use to sum up this album and make no mistake they are all used in a very positive way. Pervertor is a blast from beginning to end and an album well worth checking out for those who like a good dose of extremity. Join them and prepare to swarm
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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