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QUIESCENT MANTIS “Here Comes The Swarm!”
QUIESCENT MANTIS “Here Comes The Swarm!”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Knoxville, TN is not a name that pops up frequently in connection with underground metal. Perhaps that will start to change with the emergence of QUIESCENT MANTIS. This power trio serves up an aggressive melange of styles that is pretty entertaining for the most part, but with a few clunky bits tossed in as well.
At various times, they sound like a Bay Area thrash band, a melodic death metal band and a metalcore band complete with cliched breakdowns. Being the old school fool that I am, the straight thrash stuff comes across best with me. Opening cut “Open The Gates” is centered on basic speed riffing, but it comes across great, with a mixture of harsh vocals with cleans that are almost feminine in tone yet still beguiling. The album ends...appropriately...with “This Is The End!”, which is another straightforward thrasher that gets the job done.
In between those two solid tracks we get a smorgasbord of heavy music. The title track is a more “modern” sounding bit of groovy death complete with skronky pinched harmonics while “Apex Predator” has classic palm-muted tremolo death metal and chunky breakdowns. Two instrumentals make an appearance, with “P.R.E.Y.” having an almost American power metal feel whilt “Fight!” is more crunchy thrash goodness. Longest cut “Shake The Cage” is a power/thrash mix with echoes of EXODUS and FLOTSAM & JETSAM.
There are three more tracks that have high energy and differing atmospheres. I like “Breed, Feed, Repeat” with its combo of racing groove and melodic metalcore vocals while “Primal Form of Aggression” is somewhat of a clunker based almost totally on simple-minded chunk breakdowns.“Killer Bee, Killed” is straight death metal right down to the vocals.
It’s a fun ride from QUIESCENT MANTIS and even the awkward parts are pretty easy to overlook. I’ll bet this band is a neck-wrecker live!
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