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In January, we reviewed Manticora's
first LP "Roots Of Eternity" (awarded it 86 / 100). With their straight
power / speed metal songs like "Nowhere Ends" & "When Forever Ends"
(this song alone justifies buying the album), the trashy "Intoxicated"
(whoaww !!!) and the final epic one "Roots Of Eternity", this very good
power metal album will find its place near Iced Earth's "Something Wicked
This Way Comes", Gamma Ray's "Land Of The Free" or Blind Guardian's
"Tales From The Twilight World". Metal Reviews : Thank you very much for your call Lars. Where are you calling from ? Lars (Manticora's singer) : I am calling from Copenhagen, Denmark. MR : Can you tell us the story of Manticora ? Lars : The story begins in 1996, when me and Kristian Larsen (guitar) we were playing in another band called Fear Itself. We split in April 1996 and we found out we wanted to pursue the power metal style. After a month, we found Mads Volf, our drummer, and two months after that we found René Nielsen, bass player, who is actually the brother-in-law of Mads (laugh). So, we started doing power metal music from July 1996. In summer 1997, we've recorded the fast track demo "Dead End Solution". It sold about 1000 copies. Based on that demo, Intromental Management truly believes in us and send out 150 copies of our mini CD and about half year later, the Greek Label "Black Lotus" came out with the best offer. In the mean time, we enrolled Flemming Schultz, a new guitarist as a member of the band, to allow me to concentrate on the singing part because our live performances weren't that good (MR note : on their mini CD Lars was performing on vocals & guitars and since 1997 Lars has been taking lessons in voice control and singing.). It became better when we had Flemming as a second guitarist. A month before getting in studio in February 1999, we enrolled Jeppe Eg, our new keyboard player, because we wanted to have this extra dimension in our sound. In studio, a couple of things went wrong, I got sick when I was supposed to sing, a machine "fucked up" and it took us 3 months to record "Roots Of Eternity" (it took 14 days over a period of 3 months) and this album was released finally in July 99.  MR : Why and who chose Manticora as the name of the band ? Lars : Actually, when we started out we were still called Fear Itself, but as our music changed from the old style, we started first with the name of Dreamscape, but fourteen days after, we found out that another band had that name. So we changed to another name, but fourteen days after we found out again that another band had that name. MR : Bad Luck ? Lars : Yeah bad luck. I was reading about this mythical creatures and suddenly I came over the name of Manticore : 'Well, yeah, that's a good name for a band' and the other members said "OK". Unfortunately, a year after we made the first demo CD "Dead End Solution", we had a letter from a German record company who said that they had a band who have released four CDs under the name Manticore. So we finally changed the last letter to an "a" and it became Manticora. We didn't want to change the name totally. MR : Which are the bands that have influenced Manticora's music ? Lars : It is basically the 80's power metal wave such as Helloween and Gamma Ray. And later on of course, Blind Guardian and the American power metal scene, such as Savatage. Kristian, our guitarist is a big fan of Savatage. Nevermore and Iced Earth are also our influences. We have the German way of playing power metal with the American sound, that's make us a little bit different from everybody else. MR : Manticora's music is compared to Iced Earth & Blind Guardian.
Lars : I can't say I am not happy about it, because I am proud to be compared to these bands. But then again, it would be strange if it didn't sound a little bit like that, because we all (in the band) listen so much to these bands. It explains what I said before "German style, but the American sound" and that's the two bands we could compared us to. MR : They are worth comparison by the way... Lars : Absolutely (laughs). It couldn't actually be better. MR : Let's talk about your recent album , how are the sales going so far? Lars : Actually I don't know. We haven't heared so much from the record company. But I believe the last thing we heared was in November I think, we've heared that it has sold about 5000 copies. MR : You have signed for two albums with Greek metal label "Black
Lotus Records". Lars : We have various offers from American labels, and a French label too, but the offer of "Black Lotus Records" was the best sounding offer. They were willing to pay for our recordings and they were willing to do promotion for the record. All the band and management (Intromental) believes that promotion is the most important part. I don't give a shit if I earn any money from this record, because I am gonna earn hopefully some money on the second or third record, but promotion is the issue, that's the only way to sell a lot of records. The other labels didn't want to pay the records and no really good promotion. "Black Lotus Records" give us a very good offer and that's why we've chosen them. MR : Actually, you don't live from your music ? Lars : No, absolutely not (laughs). It is pretty impossible to live from the first record... even think that I am gonna to live out of the second record. We have the same contract for two records with "Black Lotus Records". So, we are not gonna make any money of that... not much anyway. MR : Is there a special meaning in "Roots Of Eternity" art cover ? Lars : We took all the lyrics and gave to the guy responsible of the
cover and told him to do something just with the lyrics. We look at
it and say "This is very, very great". On the front you can see this
big wave thing, coming from the right and goes to the left, and into
the middle, that's symbolize the flood. Lars : Thank you. 
MR : Is it a concept album ? Based on lyrics, it looks like it is
one ! Lars : Sorry guys, it is not. Its based on Cthulu (RPG). It deals with the "dark side of the mind", the depressed part. Lyrics talk about evolution, the fact that we are such small creatures, in such a big world, in a such big galaxy. We cannot do anything about it, for example, a comet coming down on Earth and destroyed Earth, but anyway, even if Earth was destroyed , that would be a kind of evolution too, because it will generate something else and eventually new life being created... ... but it isn't a concept album. However, concerning "The Saga Of The Exiles Part 1 & 2" (MR note : actually song No 6 & 7, Nowhere Land & The Flood), I can tell you there gonna be part No 3 and No 4 on the next record. MR : We really like your album, but our favorite songs are the two
power / speed ones called "When Forever Ends" & "Nowhere Land" and the
trashy "Intoxicated". Lars : That's different for me to be objective, but I would say that... ... production wise it will have to be "When Forever Ends". When we stand in studio and mixing all the songs, we have this feeling about "this one is great, this also sounds great", but when we mixed "When Forever Ends" we're all look each other and it was like "Hey, this is 'fucking' great". But I believe that the title track "Roots Of Eternity" is the greatest piece of music we have ever made, because it is hard to create a song of twelve minutes long and keep the intensity of the song and not make it boring. I believe it is a special song (MR note : it starts with a very slow intro, then a trashy Iced Earth riff and just after that a great Maiden solo takes you to the beginning of this epic song. Just amazing). MR : Let's talk about Jacob Hansen, he has really done a hell of a job with the sound on the album. Who is this guy ? Lars : Do you know a band called Invocator ? MR : Not at all ! Lars : That's an old Danish band who has released 3 records. He is the old singer of that band. Jacob has also produced Wuthering Heights (MR note : we will review their record next month) and a lot of other Danish bands. He is a guy that nobody outside Denmark knows. But here in Denmark, he is well known. He is a really good producer. You just ask him : "hey, we want this sound" and he does it in five minutes. We went in studio with the Iced Earth CD "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and we said "Hey Jacob, this is the guitar sound we want". It took him five minutes and we had that sound. He is really impressive. MR : Could you describe the Danish scene to us? Lars : The Danish scene ??? It sucks very much (explosion of laughs from all of us). Manowar, Motorhead, Dio came to Denmark and only 1500 fans came to that show and it was in Copenhagen. For a town of 1.2 million, only 1500 people !!! It is so ridiculous. We're having this Stratovarius, Rhapsody & Sonata Arctica live in April and we expect to be about 350-400 fans, that's all. (MR note : bearing in mind that Paris is sold out for the same show). The same thing in Sweden and Norway. The whole Scandinavian scene is "fucked up". It has something to do with MTV destroying the whole scene and also those Danish journalists. They don't say "Woaaw, you're Danish, you're really good", they say "You really not that good". Typical Danish way of thinking. MR : Must be frustrating ? Lars : Frustrating to read those reviews from all around the world "This is a good album, this one is a masterpiece, this one is so great..." and all the Danish guys here saying "This is not very great, this one is boring, this guy can't sing...". I want to kick their asses, but that's their opinion, so we ignored them. MR : A more personal question, when did you start singing and which singer did you like at that time ? Lars : I started in 1990. I was playing songs in club. I listen a lot to Metallica at that time. I was singing for fun, but after a year or so, this was the kind of future I wanted. That was ten years ago and that was James Hetfield from Metallica who inspired me that. MR : Can you name your 3 favorites albums (of all time) ? Lars : Metallica "...And Justice For All". Absolutely the 'Best' album ever made. MR : That explains this great 'trashy' riff on your song "Intoxicated" ! Lars : Yeah, my opinion too. You're actually the first one who have
seen that. MR : Good choice ! Lars : It's very hard, because there are so many one I like...(thinking)… Blind Guardian "Nightfall In The Middle Of The Earth", a great album too. But I have one more : Nevermore "The Politics Of Ecstasy". But I can't forget to mention Iron Maiden and King Diamond. MR : And now, what kind of bands or music do you currently listen to? Lars : I listen to everything almost. From Slayer to George Michael (MR note : betrayal... just joking of course). I have about 2000 CD here and I keep getting new CD's as I write to Intromental home page (reviews section). MR : Sonata Arctica's first album ? Lars : Good album. We received it yesterday and I was impressed because I think they have their own special sound, but also the average age of the musicians is below 20. Pretty good. MR : In the middle of 90's, people were sure that old style heavy metal was dead ! Today it is stronger than ever. What do you think about this True metal revival right now ? Lars : I think its good for us, even for power metal bands, but it is also pushing other bands and other styles on the outside and I don't like that. We are passing from one revival to another. Couldn't we have just a heavy metal revival in general, instead of those naive campaigns (MR note : we couldn't said it any better). MR : Don't you think that fans are going to be tired with this invasion of albums and style revival ? Lars : Yeah, also because today there are so many bands. If I have to chose a record in the old times there were like Metallica, Iron Maiden, King Diamond, Slayer to chose from... basically. Today there are 600 hundred different titles that I can chose from. Every record company in the world want to be representative in all styles with different bands, which means that they sign a lot of "trapped" bands. There are too many bands out there in my opinion and too many untalented bands... ... then of course people can have their opinion about us, but I believed we are one of the challenger band that have earned the possibility to get forward. MR : We were talking about MTV, do you think metal should stay an underground music ? Lars : No, absolutely not. I believe it was a good thing in the age when not everybody was listening to heavy metal, but it was a good deal of population in each country that listened to this kind of music. Today you have like 3000 people listening to heavy metal out of a population of 5 million, that's ridiculous. I don't think that this underground view about metal (the way a lot of people want it to be) is good….Either for heavy metal bands or for the audience, because no big bands are able to go on big tours today. We will never gonna tour South America for example, even though we know we have big "die hard" fans there. We will never be able to play for them because bands today cannot get very big, because it is an underground music. I believe it will be cool to have heavy metal back again (MR note : who said on MTV ???).  MR : What is the most difficult part in your job, if there is one of course ? Lars : Keeping the band together. Kristian, our guitarist, is doing most of the riffs and is creating most of the music and I'm the one writing most of the lyrics. The other guys in the band are not involved in keeping the relationship with the management and the record company and I'm the one doing all that. All the practical things and that's my main job in the band beside singing. MR : When you're not playing or recording with your band, what do
you like to do ? Lars : (laughs) I play football (MR note : now we know how Denmark defeated Germany at the Euro in 1992....football's players were heavy metal musicians :-) )... and I train a lot in gym, building some muscles... and drinking a lot. Actually heavy drinking sessions with the bands or my other friends (laughs).
MR : What's your opinion about MP3's and their spreading throughout the internet ? Lars : I am a bit split in my mind about that, because it is probably a good promotion. But it is also too easy for people to just put them on a web page, and others to burn a CD from it. Maybe our CD is put out in hundreds of different MP3's files and we don't know about it. I think it's dangerous that people can just use your things without paying the rights of your music. MR : The "true heavy metal" fan will anyway buy the CD's. Lars : Yeah of course, but again it is the question of this mini disk or CD. It is too easy for people to come and you have this good quality on mini disk or CD. In the old times you bought a record and you put in on a tape and your friends was saying "Ok can you record that one for me", but finally he was buying it for the quality. Today you can copy it on CD or mini disk and I think it explains why the records sales are going down, because people take the easy solution. MR : Agree with you, but I think that sooner or later we will see copyright for those MP3's Lars : The day I see some money from our copyright company I will be
very happy (laughs). MR : Let's go back to Manticora, what's next for the band, are you
going on tour? Lars : After the next album, I believe we will go on tour. We actually
had a tour schedule for this record, but I was been mugged by three
unknown people here in Denmark and they broke my jaw and my nose. We
were obliged to cancel that tour. They didn't like the way I look, so
they beat me down. But anyway, after our next record we will have to
do an European tour and I don't care about the costs. Right now there
is a "very very very little tiny" chance of getting us on
support tour MR : Any date planed for the next album ? Lars : No. Actually we are pretty split in the band too, because I wanna go in the studio as fast as possible and some of the other guys really wants to wait and see if this song is good enough in front of a live audience. But as of today, we have ten songs ready. That's about 55 minutes of music and the other guys wants to make at least five more songs before we go back to the studio. I believe we will go into studio about the end of May or beginning of June and that should bring out a new record in the beginning of next September or something like that. MR : What can we excepted for the next album... faster... heavier... louder ? Lars : A little bit more keyboard, a little bit. Because Jeppe, who
is now a full time member of the band on the keyboard has of course
also his own influences. Its going to be a bit more symphonic, but again
its approximately the same style : full speed drums on most of our songs
and I don't think we will make a "bad luck this time". It gonna
be pure power. We have six of the songs that are totally power / speed
metal in the style of "When Forever Ends" and "Nowhere Land" and we
have this new song called "Intoxicated". It is funny ; we'll do a song
on the next record called "Intoxicated", which means we will have two
songs called "Intoxicated". Absolutely original. We were thinking of
calling it "Intoxicated 2", but everybody has done that. So doing the
same song title, but a different song….that's cool. The music will remind
you the first one, we gonna follow the same path. MR : Finally, do you have a message for our readers and your fans ? Lars : I just wanna say that even though we are not a very big band , I would like people to go out and at least check this out in your record store. Get the guy behind the desk to play just one song for you and I am sure you will be caught by the music immediately. Stay heavy and support heavy metal !!! MR : OK. Thank you very much Lars for this interview and we wish you all the best for Manticora's career. Lars : I am the one thanking you guys. See you. After our January's review,
we hope this interview helped you even more to discover Manticora. Now
close your computer and run to your nearest metal vendor. Listen to
this wonderful power / speed metal "Roots Of Eternity" or just order
it (Metal Reviews takes the bet you will not regret it).
Manticora is the next generation of power / speed metal bands. Danny & Chris. Your dear reviewers. |