Lord Mantis: Bad at Naming Things, Good at Being Heavy
New school extreme death/doomers Lord Mantis are from Chicago, and I mean that as much as an analysis of their sound as I do a point of simple fact. The band features guitarist/vocalist Greg Gomer, drummer Bill Bumgardner of Indian, ex-Nachtmystium guitarist Andrew Markuszewski – who also performs as half the black metal duo Avichi; Lord Mantis vocalist/bassist Charlie Fell drums as the other half – and, of course, Sanford Parker produced their first album, Spawning the Nephilim. They couldn’t be more Chicago if they had Polish sausages lodged in the lining of their blackened hearts.
If you were to leave Lair of the Minotaur in the depths of whatever cavern Khanate existed in, they might come out sounding like Lord Mantis, whose appropriation of Morbid Angel-type mythological references (I can just hear David Vincent talking about spawning some nephilim), and a black metal-type logo, underscores the varied influences playing out in Spawning the Nephilim‘s seven tracks. Look hard at the title cut and you’ll even find a little of the Neurosis-style shouting which seems to pop up everywhere these days.
Don’t take that to mean Lord Mantis are some kind of post-metal act too busy being “experimental” to actually be heavy. Not a chance. More likely a bigger concern for these four dudes is making sure they don’t all show up for the gig at the Empty Bottle wearing the same Hellhammer shirt. And I can certainly respect extremity for its own sake. As the chugging modern sub-thunder riffage of “Hit by a Bus” shows, they’re not just blasting away with aimless aggression. There’s a sense of purpose to all the chaos. Just what that purpose might be, other than sheer destruction, I haven’t a clue. Sometimes sheer destruction is enough.
Anyone who dug Coffins‘ Buried Death but wants something a little more cerebrally menacing would do well to dig into Spawning the Nephilim. It feels familiar on the surface, either because of the personnel, or the production, or even just the mentality (let’s face it, Lair of the Minotaur had most of these bases well covered before these guys came along), but Lord Mantis‘ songs have a character to them that is unique unto themselves. If that character is buried under 600 tons of riffs, well, start digging if you feel up to it. Another album or two like this and they’ll have a Kuma’s burger in their honor in no time.
