ALBUM REVIEW: Pain Is Forever And This Is The End – Mantar

If art is a reflection of its creator’s reality, MANTAR’s Erinç Sakarya and Hanno Klänhardt are bleeding out in the bleak midwinter on Pain Is Forever And This Is The End. Driven to death’s door by injuries and imposter syndrome, the duo have rolled the dice and defeated the dungeon master; that’s to say they’ve made the album of their career so far.

If you’ve ever wondered what blood, sweat and tears sounds like, simply bury yourself beneath Pain Is Forever And This Is The End’s skin. Whilst 2018’s The Modern Art Of Setting Ablaze spread sludge metal supremacy like burning incense, Pain Is Forever throws gasoline over their past and lights a match. Opener Egoisto’s bluesy black-n-roll slaps you in the face like a shotgun blast, whilst Piss Ritual is DARKTHRONE high in a hurricane hammering out covers of THE HELLACOPTERS. 

The shift in sound is seismic, as everything’s louder than everything else. Inspired by 2020’s love letter to 90s grunge, Grungetown Hooligans II, MANTAR synthesise sludge aesthetics into the insidiousness of black metal and the immediacy of punk rock, resulting in their catchiest choruses yet. Let’s face it, few bands can bang out a chorus as chaotically catchy as Hang ‘Em Low (So The Rats Can Get ‘Em); but Pain Is Forever is the soundtrack to shooting up in hell, or joyriding through Valhalla. 

Whilst The Modern Art Of Setting Ablaze established the duo as German trailblazers, Pain Is Forever And This Is The End is a Michelin star dish of musicianship that makes its predecessor taste like a packed lunch of potential. Painted in the real-life pain Sakaraya and Klänhardt felt throughout making it, the drums are delivered like Sakaraya’s life depends on it, whilst every riff – like Grim Reaping’s ridiculously fun frolic through BLUE OYSTER CULT blues-rock – is feverishly fresh. 

Pandemics, political crises, and existential pondering lurk in the lyrics of Pain Is Forever like a plague. Whilst not overtly about the pandemic, they use Klänhardt’s near-death experiences as a framework to explore one’s fear of their own finiteness. Whether it’s Orbital Pus’ religion-baiting cult-satire – “Don’t you want to become a cult leader? Since the death of god, there’s been a vacancy open…”  – or Egoisto’s soberingly hard-to-swallow confessionals – “I live in a house that is made out of bones, on every wall hangs a cross” – there are a lot of rewards to reap from repeat listening, for jotting down notes and discovering your own thoughts.

Making Pain Is Forever And This Is The End was like playing Russian roulette with their lives. Luckily for MANTAR, they’ve made the album of their career so far; so buckle up and get ready for 40 minutes of blackened punk that’ll give you the kick up the ass you’ve been waiting for. 

Rating: 9/10

Pain Is Forever And This Is The End is set for release on July 15th via Metal Blade Records.

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