I am the one, Orgasmatron/The outstretched, grasping hand

Lord Mantis - Pervertor
2012, Candlelight

Since I had never heard of the band before (yeah, I know, I'm a moron), I dove into Lord Mantis' latest album with a clean slate and no preconceptions (which is a rare thing these days, when info overload at times tend to remove your ability - and, to some extent, even the need - to make up your own mind what to think and feel about things in general, and music, art and movies in particular). Maybe this fact made it easier in a way to ingest the music and consider it on it's own merits rather than some pre-colored notion of what to expect. After a bit of research I found that the band features some rather illustrious people within the metal community, from bands such as Nachtmystium, Von and Indian. Which, in hindsight, probably explains the truly stellar music we get on Pervertor, I guess. Either way, Pervertor is a beast of immense proportions in all of it's aspects, from writing to production and execution. It is steeped in sludgy riffs, varied but often slow, rumbling tempos and a rather eighties-feeling kind of doom metal that I loved from the very first instance. These songs are catchy as hell, especially considering the style of music presented here. What we get is filthy blackened sludge/metal with lots of tremolo picking, rumbling double bass drums, wicked rocking hooks, earth shatteringly heavy riffs and venom-spitting, snarling vocals almost as ferocious as those of Steve Austin of Today Is The Day. There's actually more than a vague resemblance to TITD in the general progressiveness and tone of Lord Mantis' music, though they're never drawn towards the same kinds of extremes as TITD. A few key aspects that sets the band apart from the brunt of their contemporaries are the brilliant, inventive drumming and the mind blowing, almost Cobalt-esque, winding riffs and melodies, alongside the fact that all of the songs keep evolving, never ever becoming stagnant or repetitive. Songs like Levia and Septichrist has me smiling like an imbecile every time I hear them, because they're that goddamn catchy and good! Oh, and the main riff on closing track The Whip And The Body is the greatest Motörhead-riff Motörhead never wrote. We have some Album-of-the-year-contender shit right here, folks. Dig in.