Lord Mantis: Death Mask Review: Scary Good

Before listening to any of Lord Mantis’ albums (including their latest release “Death Mask”) there are three warnings that must be addressed:

1. DO NOT LISTEN TO LORD MANTIS IN THE DARK

2. DO NOT LISTEN TO LORD MANTIS ALONE

3. DO NOT LISTEN TO LORD MANTIS BEFORE YOU GO TO SLEEP

This band’s music is horrifying. Lord Mantis combines ambiance with doom, grindcore and old-school black metal influences to create an unsettling terror-inducing form of metal.

“Death Mask” begins with “Body Choke,” a near nine minute piece that begins to generate a feeling of claustrophobia. The eerie production, haunting vocals, tribal drums and guitar drones set the mood perfectly.

The seven track album is an audible chamber of horrors. Each song presents its unique twists and turns with its haunting build. Sometimes it’s not the music that’s the most gripping part, it’s the ambiance. Lord Mantis surprises, stalks and scares the listener with their breed of “terror doom.”

“Coil” is by far the creepiest and coolest track on “Death Mask” due to the use of a vocoder-causing singer and bassist Charlie Fell to sound like Mr. Freeze from Batman: The Animated Series over the chilling drones.

Other highlights include the 10 minute closer “My Three Crosses,” “Possession Prayer,” and the fear inducing instrumental known as “You Will Gag for the Fix” that serves as a set-up for “Negative Birth.”

Lord Mantis is an H.R. Giger painting come to life with “Death Mask,” leaving an imprint of trauma on a person’s ears. Once Lord Mantis is heard, you cannot un-hear them. Their music will burn itself into your mind and change the way you listen to music in general. “Death Mask” is not for the weak of heart and should serve as a template for horror film soundtracks.