Mantar
Metaldays - 2018
Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen
The sun was incinerating the landscape as the final day of Metaldays 2018 was upon us. The first musical meal of the day was Mantar from Germany, and we stood ready at the main stage to greet them.
“I can’t promise to make you laugh, but I can promise to kill you tonight!”
- Hanno Klänhardt (vocals/guitar)
It was an empty stage that met us when we gazed up at Mantar. No backdrop, no stage scenery, no nothing really. Only a drumkit and a microphone stand, both about halfway in on the stage, and facing each other instead of the crowd. Hanno and Erinc (Sakarya), the duo that is Mantar, walked on without any fuzz or special greeting, and began playing their sludgy, aggressive music. Still just facing each other.
To be fair though, Hanno was pretty damned wild when not being tied up at the mic singing. He would thrash around the stage, headbang and wear the wildest facial expressions. Eventually, he would drop a line or two to the crowd as well, but it was clear that these guys’ idea of a performance was quite different, and not as inviting, from what we’re used to.
“Make some noise, make some noise, go!”
- Hanno (vocals/guitar)
To be perfectly honest, there wasn’t much to look at across the edge of the stage anyway. In the beginning, there was a small amount of people waiting for the band, all huddled together in the shade cast by the sound tower, and it wasn’t until the show was underway that they would dare the heat to get closer to the stage. Here they were rewarded with a spraying from the guards water hose, which certainly came in handy at the time, but before the show was over, Mother Nature lent a hand as well, as a small dripple had begun to fall from the sky.
Mantar did garner a good response for their wild efforts, mostly in the way of cheering and raised arms, but at times small circle pits erupted as well.
The end of the show was as odd and abrupt as the opening had been. As soon as he’d made his final beat, Erinc up and left the stage without a word. Hanno had a few more bars to finish of Era Borealis, but as soon as he was done, he left in much the same manner.
While being effective for what it was, the music is probably not something I’d listen to at home, but given the chance I’d likely check Mantar out live again. It was such an intensely odd experience that I feel a revisit must be in order. If for nothing else, just to see if this is their standard approach, or something that happened here.
“I can’t promise to make you laugh, but I can promise to kill you tonight!”
- Hanno Klänhardt (vocals/guitar)
It was an empty stage that met us when we gazed up at Mantar. No backdrop, no stage scenery, no nothing really. Only a drumkit and a microphone stand, both about halfway in on the stage, and facing each other instead of the crowd. Hanno and Erinc (Sakarya), the duo that is Mantar, walked on without any fuzz or special greeting, and began playing their sludgy, aggressive music. Still just facing each other.
To be fair though, Hanno was pretty damned wild when not being tied up at the mic singing. He would thrash around the stage, headbang and wear the wildest facial expressions. Eventually, he would drop a line or two to the crowd as well, but it was clear that these guys’ idea of a performance was quite different, and not as inviting, from what we’re used to.
“Make some noise, make some noise, go!”
- Hanno (vocals/guitar)
To be perfectly honest, there wasn’t much to look at across the edge of the stage anyway. In the beginning, there was a small amount of people waiting for the band, all huddled together in the shade cast by the sound tower, and it wasn’t until the show was underway that they would dare the heat to get closer to the stage. Here they were rewarded with a spraying from the guards water hose, which certainly came in handy at the time, but before the show was over, Mother Nature lent a hand as well, as a small dripple had begun to fall from the sky.
Mantar did garner a good response for their wild efforts, mostly in the way of cheering and raised arms, but at times small circle pits erupted as well.
The end of the show was as odd and abrupt as the opening had been. As soon as he’d made his final beat, Erinc up and left the stage without a word. Hanno had a few more bars to finish of Era Borealis, but as soon as he was done, he left in much the same manner.
While being effective for what it was, the music is probably not something I’d listen to at home, but given the chance I’d likely check Mantar out live again. It was such an intensely odd experience that I feel a revisit must be in order. If for nothing else, just to see if this is their standard approach, or something that happened here.
Mantar
