Lord Mantis Spawning the Nephilim

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Reviewed by: Nick   //   Published: 8/25/2009

There's a fantastic trifecta to be found on Lord Mantis' debut full-length, Spawning the Nephilim. First and foremost, it's so satisfyingly heavy that its sludgy content aches for room to stretch its down-tuned limbs. Secondly, it skips the often plodding structures of sludge and doom and drives forward at fierce punk pace. And finally, Spawning the Nephilim simply sounds absolutely fucking evil. Wielding these three elements, Lord Mantis has put together one hell of a blackened sludge metal record, and takes the crown of Seventh Rule's darkest release to date.

Dig a little deeper and the results aren't so surprising. With a current member of Indian and a former member of Nachtmystium, Lord Mantis' gruesome brand of top notch sludge was almost expected. "Push Tug Wipe" immediately sets the tone with gritty, fist-pumping riffs and layers of tortured screams. "Spawning the Nephilim" delivers a great helping of epic black metal progressions before locking into bleaker, Neurosis-inspired riffs. "Hit by a Bus" mixes the pummeling low end of Black Cobra with a wide range of agonizing howls. And it's all topped off with a layout that is a relic of the early days of envelope-pushing, highly offensive metal art work.

This is the definition of extreme music. Desensitization is a fairly common side effect of being immersed in metal and hardcore for an extended period of time, but when a record like Spawning the Nephilim surfaces, even veteran listeners will remember the extraordinary feeling of being throttled by an impressively heavy and grating record. Fans of sludge and doom, black and death metal, and maybe even a few crusty hardcore dudes would be well-advised to give this Chicago band a thorough listen.

Bottom Line: This record is heavy. This record is incredibly dark and twisted. And this record is relentlessly pummeling. These sound like obvious requirements for a metal release, but Lord Mantis' execution of them on Spawning the Nephilim will undoubtedly up the ante for future sludge records.

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