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Manticora: To Kill To Live To Kill
Manticora - To Kill To Live To Kill Music Review

Manticora: To Kill To Live To Kill

Heavy/Power/Thrash Metal
3.0/5.0

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Vicisolum Productions
Released: 03.08.2018
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 25.07.2018

So where has Denmark's Manticora been all these years? To paraphrase the Monty Python "dead parrot" skit, I thought "Manticora is no more! Has ceased to be! Expired and gone to meet their heavy metal maker! Bereft of life, rest in peace!" But no, Manticora, while absent from the studio since 2010's Safe, has done some touring, made some personnel changes, and lately have begun working on a double concept album. To Kill To Live To Kill, their eighth album, is based on a forthcoming horror novel of the same name by vocalist Lars F. Larsen.

Manticora Band Photo Click For Larger Image

Manticora

Essentially, To Kill To Live To Kill is a return to form for Manticora, with a few additional nuances. The band still brings their combination power and thrash metal, wrapped in some guitar and vocal harmony, and finished off with fiery guitar solos. Yet, this time around you may find their metal more intense and heavy, dark and menacing. The latter fits with the horror concept. Additionally, perhaps to accent the horror concept once more, there are pesky and annoying death vocals found in nearly every song.

Most songs, such as Echoes Of A Silent Scream, Through The Eyes Of A Killer, Towering Over You, are simply explained with roaring riffage, doubling down on speed and intensity, and then delivering a guitar solo. Repeat. Additionally, thanks to this context, the vocals a hammered down in the mix. Being a concept album based on a novel, I hope the lyrics, which I did not receive, are provided in the CD booklet, because otherwise the vocals are hard to understand. There are some slight exceptions to the Manticora formula and they come in two instrumentals. The Devil In Lisbon has a strong guitar line and focus; Humiliation Supreme, basically fast, thrashy, with a lingering guitar lead. Of all the songs, I liked The Devil In Lisbon; thats one out of twelve, if you're counting.

Honestly, all said, I didn't find Manticora's To Kill To Live To Kill all that interesting or entertaining. Perhaps this is largely due to simple fact that, being a concept album based on a novel, no context was provided from either a story summary or lyric booklet. Mostly, I found the album to be simply aggressive and intense to the point of being burdensome.

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The Bottom Line

Honestly, all said, I didn't find Manticora's To Kill To Live To Kill all that interesting or entertaining. Mostly I found the album to be simply aggressive and intense to the point of being burdensome.

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