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Mantric is one of those bands that may seem hard to describe with their music, as if you are looking for some kind of underlying style or unique attribute, when in reality there isn't one. The Descent is simply a band mixing some Gothic Rock sounds into Sludge and Groove that come off in a very radio friendly mainstream effort. There's also some Groove passages thrown in for good measure. But the question for The Descent is not about how the question is composed, really, but rather if this cluster of styles sounds good together. The Descent really isn't a bad idea, it's more the composition that holds it back. The recording acts more like a band that just doesn't know if they want to be a heavy band, or something a little more friendly, and it often clashes horribly, and it all starts at the beginning with "Tower of Silence" since "Asylum 2013" is an instrumental introduction that leads into "Tower of Silence" and doesn't actually mean anything to the listener until there's roughly a minute left, if that. "Tower of Silence" is actually an enjoyable track at first, coming at the listener with some really driving Sludge and screaming vocals that fit well but would best be suited to a Mathcore band such as The Dillinger Escape Plan. However, everything about the song manages to really kickstart things, the chorus leaves a little more to be desired when it all of a sudden belts to a radio friendly Alternative Rock style. Musically it's pretty good, though rather generic, but it shows that the singer of this group has a decent singing voice as well, but that's also a downside as it surely means that they will incorporate more singing as time goes on. Sadly, this is true. As well as more experimentation in the music, which is prodominantly showcased with each track that follows, however "The Invasion" is easily one of the worst, but definitely not the worst on here. For "The Invasion", he group utilizes vocal distortion through most of the song against a Sludge sound that has a hint of Groove in it. While distortion isn't a bad thing, it is when there is singing involved that often borders on simply whiny. Immediately following this is the song "Spear of Heaven", which takes a lot from the Alternative Rock scene musically, composed mostly of radio friendly riffs and a random Sludge moment that kicks in near the start. However, the part that offsets the entire song is the moment where the music stops and, at first, sounds like an attempt to incorporate some kind of cheap off-Broadway musical moment, however, anyone who heard material by the Rap based Mallcore band Hed P.E. will notice a lot of similarities to that band, if not also to P.O.D.. The group also utilizes a highly electronic voice distortion near the end that is similar to the one used on the second The Faceless album, and more then likely more, but that is perhaps the most common reference one can give. But that's not all, for the next roughly two minutes the listener is subjected to electronic noises that sound science fiction-like in their own sense, at times as if a U.F.O. were actually taking off and departing, but this just goes on forever, feeling as drawn out as the useless introductory material presented in "Asylum 2013". "Choice" also would have been a decent song, but the vocals practically kill it as there is an offtone vocal performance layered over the regular clean singing vocal performance, and it's just enough to make you want to destroy the CD at this point just out of sheer frustration. While there is clearly a lot wrong with The Descent, and to point out all of the albums faults would make this review insanely long if we were to go through each track and specifically state what's wrong with it, there are some descent tracks here. "Symptoms" is an alright track to listen to, and it also marks the start of the more experimental material that continues through the album. Aside that, there is "Cognitive Cocaine" which is not really one of the greatest songs on the release, but is atleast composed in a sense that the song actually has a steady flow from start to end without attempting to bridge things together that innevitably clash. Unfortunately, the vocals on this song really wind up being weak and, again, border on whiny at times. At first, the song "Alihorn" may sound like another experimental song that clashes, but this is, perhaps, the only song that the group actually got right. Once again, Mantric presents a slow paced song that goes between lighter material and heavier sounding material, but when "Alihorn" does get heavy, it's bridged nicely and creates an even flow within the music. For the most part, the song is light and comes off radio friendly with the decent singing, returning to screaming as you near the end of the song. Had the band been able to compose more songs like this one, focusing on bridging the gap between some areas, then The Descent would have been a rather interesting album. "Exorcism - In A Treacherous Kiss" is more of a straight forward track, leaving behind a lot of the more experimental failed-Progressive ideas that litter this album and comes off more as a straight forward Sludge track, but the presence of Mathcore cannot be denied at times. Sadly, instead, The Descent comes off as an experimental album finding Mantric trying to be a band that wants to act Progressive, but in the end just fails horribly on the composition of the songs, and in many ways, in the presentation. Musically, the album clashes quite a bit within itself between the styles utilized, and the vocals here can grow very irritating after time on many tracks when they aren't simply screaming thanks to all of the experimental elements being brought into the final mix for them. While the idea here isn't bad, The Descent just shows that Mantric needs more time to hone this style of music into something tolerable that won't leave the listener regretting the purchase and/or destroying the CD by half-way through. |
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