Review Summary: "I'll be your sword, the killing kind"
The 90's in Europe saw an explosion in popularity of power metal. Blind Guardian were well into the peak of their career, Stratovarius had just released their Magnum Opus, and Sonata Arctica and Labyrinth were preparing to release their Sophomore hits. Hailing from the humble country of Denmark with much less popularity also appeared the band Manticora, or Manticore as they were called at the time before they ran into copyright concerns.
At the base, Manticora is a power metal band, but they bring several special things to the table. Their vocalist Lars Larsen has a unique voice in the scene, a very masculine and nasally tone that make them stand out. Their guitarists also have very bluesy, thrashy, and what would eventually become progressive style. At the time of this recording, they had only one guitarist and had not yet hired a keyboardist. Also note that the lead singer and guitarist are brothers.
This album honestly reminds me more of early Judas Priest work than it does a typical power metal album. The production is messy, the atmosphere has something very old school about it, and their sound is still raw and experimental as most bands are early in their career. As for the songs itself, its four solid bangers with one ballad interlude that is almost Elton John-esque, probably a shout out to other old school metal ballads. One of the best parts about the album is the fun, troublemaker theme that permeates each of the songs and their choruses. Some would call the lyrics overblown and ridiculous for this reason, but killer riffs and a certain sense of self awareness also makes them quite amusing. The biggest downside of the release is of course the length at 25 minutes, but you could always do what I do and play through the CD twice. 4/5
Highlights:
Tight Songwriting
Unique Vocals
Killer Riffs
Downsides:
Only 25 mins long
Sloppy production job
Vocals are either "love it" or "hate it"
