Artist: Mánþiel
Country: Chile
Label: Ars Maligne
Formats: CD
Year: 2024
Although ‘From Lycanthropic Realms Of Sorrow’ was released just a few days before the ‘A Thousand Ornaments Of The Cosmos’-album that I reviewed just before this one, I deliberately put them online in this particular order. Reason for this is that this demo feels actually a bit of a transitional recording, a steppingstone between both album and therefore easier to “understand”. Regardless of the individual character of this demo recording, it will not disappoint any fan of the Mánþiel (Mantiel) brand. Or that of Lord Valtgryftåke in general, as he has now also continued this band as a solo project.
The first part of the demo is adorned with the rather recognizable and almost trademarked Lord Valtgryftåke sound, which stands for dark, raw yet melodic Black Metal. The first four tracks have that obvious signature sound, but the demo-style recording adds quite a bit to the overall atmosphere. Yet, from the fifth track things get a bit rougher even. Personally I really enjoy these more crude recordings, not only does the rehearsal-room quality add to the more 90’s demo Black Metal fashion, but where most of Lord Valtgryftåke’s work, regardless of what name he operates under, is quite similar, this, however, sounds significantly different.
This feeling of ‘From Lycanthropic Realms Of Sorrow’ being a transitional recording is mostly found in the way the music is constructed. The overall atmosphere is still very much in line with all of Mánþiel’s previous work (and most of what Lord Valtgryftåke does), but the rawer and more bareboned character of the music gives it a more primitive feel. The combination of those two different approaches comes rather close to what Mánþiel served us on ‘A Thousand Ornaments of The Cosmos’. The second half of the demo being so raw and crude that it almost creeps up to Lo-Fi territories, something that really gives the music a much more haunting ambiance. With the atmospheric elements still in place, the added rawness makes a resemblance the most rough Candelabrum recordings. As unpolished as it may all sound, as proof that Mánþiel is still built on the same musical foundations, this demo concludes with a cover of Dimmu Borgir’s ‘Over Bleknede Blåner Till Dommedag’ from the debut of these influential Norwegians.
Judging from the nature of this demo it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but as a whole I think this way of recording fits Mánþiel really well. At least I am happy to see that this appears under the Mánþiel banner and that Lord Valtgryftåke did not decide to start yet another project because it sounds slightly different from the rest. If you fancy some well-composed Atmospheric yet Raw Black Metal, this demo is certainly interesting enough to give it a shot.
