Syria
is an absolute mess right now. There are far too many details to go
into, so to keep it simple, let's just say the scene's not pretty.
Despite all this carnage, two intrepid men have found the time to
create dark, blasphemous black metal. They call themselves Theoria,
and Mantra is their debut. First of all, you gotta have some serious
balls to be producing metal in the middle east, especially if it's
black metal. Second, when I went onto their Bandcamp page, the slogan
on their page banner read, “Every man is but a galaxy unto
himself.” This quote sends an individualist message and stands in
direct opposition to the original collectivist quote from John Donne,
“No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is
a piece of the continent, A part of the main.” I'm loving these
Syrians already.
Despite
being made in a war zone, the production quality is amazing. The
distortion has that classic Norwegian fog aspect to it, and the music
just exudes a powerful atmosphere. The drum performance feels and
sounds raw. They let loose a torrent of stripped-down blast beats and
rapid double bass that create swirling mayhem. The guitar performance
is equally raw. They mainly utilize rapid tremolo riffs and cloudy,
distorted riffs that sound like a swarm of hornets. Some of the riffs
are slow and depressive, such as on “The Chime of Lifeless Matter”.
For some strange reason, they remind me of Grimlair. They also play
these dark clean guitars that give the music a dissonant, Deathspell
Omega-type feel. There are even times when they'll play thrashing
rhythms. Some of the riffs on “Inner Tempests” remind me of
Metallica.
The
vocals consist of a hoarse, gremlin-like rasp. Normally, I don't like
this type of vocal performance, but I think they make sense in this
context as they help give the music an unearthly feel. Speaking of
which, the keyboards also help to reinforce this atmosphere.
Sometimes they create an interstellar environment, such as on the
song “Theoria”. Other times they play these passages that give
the music a mysterious desert feel.
Many
black metal bands glorify war, death, and destruction, but they have
never experienced it. They don't understand the true gravity of those
subjects. These Syrians know. The emotions they display on this album
are genuine. This is one of the most enchanting displays of raw black
metal I've heard in a long time. It's dark, it's dreary, it's gloomy,
but it also has a wondrous mystique to it, something that few white
men could hope to produce. This album is available as a
name-your-price download on Bandcamp, so go on there and pledge your
support.
