The Black Circus Part 1 - Letters

Manticora is criminally underrated, that's a fact. I hardly see anyone talk about them and the fact that they are so good makes it even worse. With this concept album release Manticora have gained a solid reputation for mastering the art of creating concept albums. Their style of music a fast and relentless power metal attack filled with small progressive and thrashy moments but the overall experience will leave you wanting more of this style of power metal. A similar sound can be found in the catalogues of acts such as Persuader, Savage Circus, maybe even Blind Guardian and Kiuas.

Each guitarist here does an exceptional job performing on a level of power metal wizardry I haven't found since I heard Kiuas's Spirit of Ukko last year. The impact of the guitars' nonstop barracade of insane riffage combined with the uber keyboard flurry makes for quite an intense experience. The riffs spit out with a crunchy bang not heard since Iced Earth's Burnt Offerings that is hard not to headbang to followed with some of the most insane drumming this side of Quo Vadis! I find the drummer to be a big factor in creating an epic and majestic flow of the concept album backed with all the parts of the music to work perfectly. The choruses and background singing all perfectly match up to the instruments and Lars Larsen's singing all making this solid as rock. Lars Larsen has quite the set of pipes on him fitting into the mold of the elite power metal vocalists - even if he does sound a bit like Hansi at times.

While The Black Circus Part I - Letters is Manticora's shortest to date, it has my favorite album artwork of theirs and some of the best of their work. The collection of songs on here comes second only to 8 Deadly Sins. The album starts off with a semi-creepy symphonic opening with orchestral arrangements to set the mood for the upcoming storm. The blast of power metal then sets forth at a relentless pace without stopping until the album closes. Each song possesses a quality that makes it stand out and be memorable in the crowd - whether it be the beautiful and well done symphonic elements and female guest singers in Wisdom or the hyper fast guitar/keyboard duel soloing in the title track it all fits well and molds the concept album into almost perfection. The concept is based on some sort of circus or carnival that travels throughout the land showing off ancient history or something of the sort. Almost reminds me of the Twisted Metal videogame except without cars with guns and clowns with fire for hair.

Power metallers rejoice, this is a very unique album that takes you on a great experience and journey with a fun atmosphere of royalty and creative prowess. Right from the get go, the opener sets the mood very slowly then doesn't relent and holds no mercy upon the listener as it assails your ears triumphantly. Manticora in my eyes has set itself as a true contender and real elite band in the power metal spectrum with this release; I first heard 8 Deadly Sins and thought it could be a one hit wonder but after now hearing this I was mistaken and now they have taken their punishment out on me through my neck.

When I accidentally run into a band like Manticora, I wonder why the Danish metal is usually underrated. Actually this came for the first time somewhere in 2004, when I accidentally discovered the "sister-band" Wuthering Heights, for whose album, Far From the Madding Crowd, I had an immediate and eternal crush. The gig from Satu-Mare (Romania), to which I hadn't attended and which I regretfully marked as big loss, drew my attention upon Manticora and they rapidly ascended in my favorite list near the above mentioned, to whom Manticora has in common... one of the guitarists.

I have a huge passion for conceptual albums, taste induced mainly by His Majesty King Diamond, but I rarely find one to like 100%. I guess the last one was Kamelot's Black Halo. And when I was almost certain that my 2006 top ten albums had been crystallized, that nothing further could possibly appear to fit it, a band I have found out about three months ago has come to ruin my plans with their fifth album, The Black Circus- part I- The Letters, a musical fantasy inspired by the short stories of the odd American writer Lovecraft. It would have been much better if I had the lyrics on the album, but the media promos rarely contain this element, though when it comes to a concept album, they would be compulsory. However, the main character describes in a series of letters his meeting with a strolling circus of some European gypsies, circus proved in the end as a space of magic rituals: "they discovered me one evening while I saw something I was not supposed to see. It was a secret meeting at a place of the big tent...I've been invited to the next meeting by the Romany. They call it The Daily Summoning, The Daily Gathering". I suppose the lovecraftian unleash will belong to the second part, to be released the next year. What have really strike me were the denominations of the interludes. Intuneric, Romanian word for darkness. I have know no idea how the Danish band chose this word, but the four interludes describe best the atmosphere of the album, the first of them, only half a minute long having the resonance of a marche funebre, while the second one, recitative and ended with a child voice whispering mysteriously "come on, let's go!", would have fit any release of the horror master, King Diamond. In a world of joy-metal, as power metal is often characterized, the Manticora album truly embodies the concept of dark. Musically, try to imagine an old Blind Guardian with lots of progressive elements, guitars a la Michael Romeo and a vocal score, if not resembling, at least influenced by Russell Allen (Symphony X). Still, Lars Larsen is not such a great vocalist as the frontmen mentioned above, although he succeeds with few impressive scores- as on the epic ballad Freakshow. What's really attractive about this album is lesser the technique, but the unexpected combination of the progressive elements with a pretty heavy shell, the prog side reminding other genius Danish guys, Beyond Twilight, while the power one is a natural inheritance of the 80's German power metal. Slight thrash insertions, mainly on the rhythmic section are stylish masked by choral scores. The ultimate masterpiece of the album is Wisdom, which, beside an absolutely amazing score of Larsen's, brings in a female vocal score to complete an epic-progressive scenery empowered by a solo maybe not so complex, but amazingly expressive in the darken context. I would have also included Gypsies Dance in the masterpieces area if it wouldn't have made me think that the vocalists pushed his natural limits a little bit by trying a classical power metal score which- honestly- doesn't sound too great and seems somehow artificial. The closing song, Disciples of the Entities, leaves aside any progressive sparks bursting out into an energetic power metal, giving me great expectations for the second part of the story.

When you spin a CD in heavy rotation, sometimes five or six times a day, you can tell that album is either way too complex and you struggle to understand all its technical elements or its atmosphere caught you for good. I guess the second one was Manticora guys' goal and, as far as I'm concerned, they have fully achieved it. Therefore, if technically speaking and compared to albums I had related to, I'd find a minus or two in the final ranking, I'd certainly offer the highest ranking compositionally. So- a realistic- I hope, 90/100 ranking.

Manticora return with their fifth full-length studio offering, and a glance at the track list confirms that this is their third concept work in succession. The story this time revolves around a 19th-century traveling circus, inspired by a H.P. Lovecraft story. Manticora, as mentioned, by now have a solid history of doing concept CDs, but this one stands out in that "The Black Circus - Part 1" is only the first half of a two-part work, with the second half awaiting us in early 2007. Again produced by Tommy Hansen at Jailhouse Studios, you know that the sound of this disc will not be of concern.

The first track sets the stage, as the narrator reads a letter to an unknown friend, describing the circus in somber tones. The off-key gypsy-like music in the background creates a dark and eerie atmosphere, and as the title of the CD indicates, the listener should not expect clowns and puppies in this circus. There are in fact 4 intermezzi, plus the aforementioned introduction, and all serve as necessary bridges between tracks, in most instances giving the listener information about the content and mood of the next track.

I initially listened to the first musical track, "The Black Circus", with some apprehension. From the start this track made a first impression of being one of the most straight-forward, fast, and uncompromising tracks in recent Manticora history. Why the apprehension, then? Well, to me, Manticora represent their own little niche in power metal, where they intelligently combine aggressive power metal elements with outstanding progressive metal tendencies. These prog metal sounds were almost entirely missing in this first track, and I feared just a little for the rest of the CD.

It turns out that there was no need to worry. This CD is one of those wonderful works that starts quite strongly, and keeps getting better, building up to better and better tracks. A couple of minutes into "Enchanted Mind", and my apprehension had disappeared, but was replaced with yet a different sense of puzzlement, as that particular track had an almost happy feeling to it - and any Manticora fan will find that disconcerting in its own right.

Again, never fear. The story moves on to "Forever Carousel", and this track grabs hold and encourages you to sing along at the top of your lungs - and great power metal anthem, with plentiful tempo changes and children's voices mixed into the fray. Just as you get comfortable again, "Freakshow" gets you off the beaten track again - a largely acoustic, and chilling, description of one aspect of circus life.

The rest of the album deals with the gypsies that run this circus, and starting with "Gypsies' Dance Part 1", then "Wisdom", and the finale "Disciples of the Entities", these 3 tracks to close the CD are positively superb. "Gypsies' Dance Part 1" is Manticora-style power prog metal at their very best - just you try to keep your feet still! The intermezzo between "Gypsies Dance" and "Wisdom" introduce a female vocalist, who sings the part of the gypsy fortune teller in "Wisdom" - and makes this track THE stand-out song of the CD. After the finale, you will find yourself wishing that Manticora had simply made this thing a double-CD - the wait for Part 2 of this work will be long and hard.

Rejoice, Manticora fans - while you were justified in wondering whether there would be the inevitable dud after 5 ever-improving efforts, this CD climbs to the top of the catalogue - and it cements that position with every additional listen.