February 2014 sees the two-piece German monster MANTAR release their debut album on SVART RECORDS. Recorded in 2013 and titled Death By Burning, the album is a raw, self-produced, and 100% DIY display of power. The half-German/half-Turkish band has existed for less than a year and released some limited run 7"´s - definitely sold out by the time you read this. MANTAR manages to sound even heavier than most five-piece bands you may know, in spite of the fact that no bass guitar was used on Death by Burning - just drums and guitar set for destruction. Forget about rock 'n' roll: this will hurt. Flogging beats and blackened melodies meet feedback orgies and doom mayhem - early Melvins, Motorhead, Darkthrone, you name it. Don't call it sludge, though. Everything as black as possible, a soundtrack for the final battle. As a matter of course it didn´t take long until the press as well as music lovers worldwide discovered MANTAR and started to pay some serious attention. Within weeks the band received thrilled reviews of Death By Burning and gig requests from all over the world as well as invitations to huge international festivals like Oya Festival (NO), Getaway Rock (SW), Jalometalli (FL) or the mecca itself Roadburn 2014 (NL), where the headlined the small stage on Thursday night. By the end of this year the band will have visited about 17 countries including the US (“The Fest” / Florida). 2015 will be a busy year for the “Gruesome Twosome” as well. Lots of festivals are already announced like the world´s most important extreme Metal festival MARYLAND DEATHFEST, where MANTAR will play the US East coast for the first time ever. Some mags are already talking about a “debut of the year”, which is more than just remarkable as the Band still is brand new. A new record is in the making too.
“Mantar have a seriousness about them, as evidenced on their debut album Death By Burning, cloaking their sounds in a darkness that make them downright vicious. They're a band who can claim the Jesus Lizard as an influence and still hang with the rosters of staunch metalists like Iron Bonehead or Hells Headbangers“. - PITCHFORK 7,4/10
„Indeed, the band crush with the fluidity and force of a thousand waterfalls… That this is only their debut makes their meteoric compositions of audio enormity all the more brow-raising. Dig it" - DECIBEL 8/10
“Possibly the best debut you´ll hear all year!” METAL HAMMER 8/10
"...pretty damned impressive!" - Blabbermouth.com 8/10
„A pretty damn resolute statement!” - Metalsucks.com
“...like ENTOMBED after a night on the roughest cider imaginable. Basically, “Death By Burning” sounds like a Harley trying to speed though a molten tar pit!” –
TERRORIZER 8/10
„'Death By Burning' is a tremendous marriage of styles and feel, and it will crush you in it's path. This album is incredible.“ - TheSludgelord.com
“Like CROWBAR jamming with F.O.A.D.-era DARKTHRONE, or a lumbering, possibly feral, KVELERTAK and it´s unrelentingly heavy!” - ROCK -A – ROLLA
„I am War, I am Filth, I am Pain, I am Rage, I am Speed or better yet, this is how I feel when I listen to the new album by MANTAR entitled Death By Burning. Over ten tracks, this two piece band proves that they are nothing to fuck with and they are here to bring the pain! – CVLT NATION
I guarantee you that you are not gonna hear a more focussed and effectively deployed use of force on anything else this year.” TheSleepingShaman.com
“A seamless blend of doom, sludge, black metal, and more. The music is dark, the vocals are raw, and the riffs are ferocious!” - Theneedledrop.com
“Death by Burning may just be the most attractively hideous album of the year...The entire record is downright addictive…. Death by Burning is recklessly arousing!” -DeadRhetoric.com 8.5/10
“A punishing, monolithically heavy doom that could easily soundtrack the coming of the apocalypse! …snapping up a band like Mantar was a wise move as this is surely one of ugliest, most uncompromising albums to ever emerge from their catalogue.” – Scratchthesurface webzine 7,8/10
„Mantar are magicians.“ About.com 4,5/5
“Mantar was still able to capture something raw and fun, and left me amazed that such a small band could sound heavier than even a five-member group... They may be small, but they jam with an unbelievably gigantic sound that some larger bands fail to achieve.” - MetalReviews.com 8.5/10 "Surprise of the Month"
“From beginning to end this album does not have a weak moment, there is not one thing on this album that is excessive, unnecessary or filler; the cover art is haunting, the delivery is brilliant and the drive behind the band is truly astonishing. This is proof there is a God (be it Nordic or other)” - Allthetimeiwaslistening.co.uk 10/10
“ALBUM OF THE DAY!” – Roadburn.com
“Mantar may be the standout debut of the Roadbrun festival on top of being a standout debut artist of 2014" - Last Rites webzine
"Heavier metal – that’s what I’d label the music of young, half-German and half-Turkish duo, Mantar. An impressive debut, Death by Burning looks set to be a hot favorite in 2014’s end-of-year, best-of-metal lists" - Zetalambmary.com
Video premiere of “White nights” on decibelmagazine.com
Full Album pre listening on terrorizer.com
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