The Death of Birth

Whenever I notice a description that states a band is playing a hybrid of black and doom, I find myself sitting up to attention and becoming immediately interested in the band without any other knowledge about them whatsoever. These two genres have become my favourites down the years, ever since I started to explore the underground in depth. With maturity came an appreciation for these two styles that most see as probably the more extreme sides to metal (alongside death metal, perhaps). In regards to consistency, I find these two genres are up there with the best of them. Despite the minority, I do believe black metal is increasing in potential and as the market for this necessity grows, the genre will expand to accommodate more styles, meaning more crossover bands like Mania can exist without ridicule and without any explanation as to why the bands members decided to deviate from the formulaic standards of a genre that is apparently in an unstoppable decline towards death. Bands like Mania offer a fresh appeal to the genre, exciting the fans and critics alike with a vision of black metal that allows other genres to mesh in to its own standardisations, even the most inaccessible one’s. ‘The Death of Birth’ offers a juxtaposition that isn’t only found in the intriguing title. Mania are about more than the common and simplistic instrumentation that black metal usually inflicts upon its audience.

There is a definitive feeling that Mania are more black than doom, but also more ambient than black. This interesting barrel of spirits mixes together deadly cocktails and whips up a pleasurable storm that can only be enjoyed in moderation. Listening to this record is like drinking copious amounts of an hallucinogenic drink, something along the lines of Absinthe, with its high levels of thujone. The hallucinations are vivid and expressive, but most of all, eerie and scary. These visions are brought on solely by the instrumentation, though the vocals, which are thankfully use in scarcities, are helpful in achieving the overall goal of inducing an out-of-this-world feeling within the now incoherent listener who could once speak so fluently and with total assurance they knew the difference between fantasy and reality. The apt titles for the songs present here, such as ‘The Sound of Hell’, ‘No Escape’ and ‘No Future’ display to the listener who is yet to hear the instrumentation precisely what this record dabbles in. Often, the ambiance that swells beneath the murky surface reminds the listener of old school horror movies whereby a creature unknown to man, who’s appearance is so vile and distorted that humanity can not bear to look at his deconstructed façade, is lurking in the sewers, waiting to strike upon his next human victim, whom will provide him with his next feed. The apt titles once again support vivid stories like this that are conjured in the imagination of the lucidly dreaming listener who drifts by of the crest of a wave -- that wave being a distorted guitar lead that takes us by the hand and takes us towards death, one hurried step at a time.

The openly disgruntled material present here might not shock some people, those whom are familiar with the bands members. Nate, the bands only member these days, is also a member of the well liked, but unfortunately little known Leech, a band whom suck the life out of the listener as they unfold their courageous blend of blackened doom, with folk elements. Once again, Nate proves himself to be an accomplished musician by taking brave steps towards achieving his personal goals at hand. This record is brave and why? Because it uses methods that don’t always sit well in the stomachs of traditional fans, whom still like to think they rule the roost when it comes to saying what is and what is not good black metal. This approach isn’t exactly the most accessible but only because it isn’t that well stood for. The black and doom hybrid is about as productive as a political party with only one member. This band are aiming to revolutionise the sub-genre that crosses two very well known genres. Whether it achieves that or not isn’t necessarily up to me to decide. That’s your choice. I believe it does part of its job and does it well, but there is a long way to go before we seen this sort of music regularly finding its way from the underground to the comfort of our homes -- though using the internet as a source of gaining recognition is exactly what Mania don’t seem to adhere to which means it will be a slower process.

Of course, these two styles have combined for years, but not to the same levels that, lets say, death and grind have collaborated in the past, present and undeniably will do in the future. So, based upon the instrumentation, can we safely say that this is a record breaking piece? Not exactly. It does its job well, as aforementioned, but feels incomplete and far too short for my liking. At just under forty minutes long, this record needs to be at least an hour long for the average fan to get a good grasp for the material and the instrumentation within it. There is a feel of complexity to the instrumentation that makes me feel as if it needs a longer time line in which to play in. The guitars, especially, work in numerous ways and adopt many different techniques from the black and doom scenes so the length needs to be adjusted to accommodate the newcomer. Mania love ambiance and I’m not complaining. Since this band became a singular entity in 2006, Mania have grown in terms of the atmosphere they put out. The songs expand and swell with an atmosphere likened to the sombre settings of doom. The bass is particularly useful in this respect, with the band relying a lot on the bass to add an enhanced feel of experimentation. The title track suggests that Nate is capable of using funerary styled black metal atmospheres and meshing them with slower paced, more ambient, doom laden atmospherics. This multi-dimensional record is capable of great things, but there is a feeling it needs to work on the simple methods before they weave their way in and out of numerous fields. ‘The Death From Birth’ is a notable highlight with exceptional bass, drumming and guitars.