MANTAR will release a brand new full-length, Post Apocalyptic Depression, on February 14th, 2025 via Metal Blade Records!
2022’s Pain Is Forever And This Is The End saw the German duo bring a sonic richness to their madly heavy blackened death-punk grooves, assisting the record to its position at #2 on Germany’s Official Top 10 album chart. The record added smoother, calmer, more harmonic textures to MANTAR’s expanding palette, but on 2024’s Post Apocalyptic Depression, the band smashes the palette and punches a hole in the canvas.
“We wanted to do everything different from the last album,” affirms guitarist/vocalist Hanno Klänhardt. “The last album was very produced. A huge sounding record with clean production. Display of power. That was what we wanted and felt at that time. Now we are trying to destroy what we’ve built up with the last album. There is a certain beauty in disappointing people’s expectations.”
One earful of monster-grooving punk ‘n’ roll opener “Absolute Ghost” confirms that disappointment is an implausible reaction to the wildly energized righteous blood-shakers assembled here. MANTAR has already eaten up the road all over Europe, the US, Japan, Latin America, and South Africa, as well as all the major European festivals and American festivals over their ten-year existence, but these tunes are destined for especially visceral live connection.
The ethos is clear from the first two words Hanno uses to describe the recording process: “Quick and dirty. We didn’t even bring our own gear to the studio, and just used the equipment that we would find there. There was zero planning involved in the making of this album. We wanted to keep it as primitive as possible. We were bolder this time and literally cut any shit off the songs that we didn’t think was necessary. I think you can hear that and playing these new songs is more fun. I feel very connected with my punk roots on this album. Very punk rock production and next to our first album definitely the most raw sounding one.”
Further reconnecting MANTAR with the spirit of their 2014 debut Death By Burning, the new front cover is again painted by renowned artist Aron Wiesenfeld, whose haunting aesthetic lends the band such distinctive and striking visual impact. It feels like a band coming full circle, drawing to a close the first ten years of MANTAR.
As for that intensely full-on title, Hanno defines Post Apocalyptic Depression as “the feeling you get after a mass hysteria. The feeling you get once you’ve invested all your power in a mass hypnosis and suddenly realize there won’t be no salvation. Also, it refers to a very one-dimensional and basic human feeling we all know. Being just burned out after a very tedious and exhausting period of life. Post Apocalyptic Depression also can be taken as the insight that people just refuse to learn. Besides that, it’s a damn catchy and cool name for an album that sounds exactly the way these words sound.”
