Praying Mantis? One of my favorite acts of the NWOBHM, even though the dorks at Metal Archives swear up and down they’re AOR. White Mantis? Now there’s a mantis of the metal-verse I’m not familiar with! That said, I’m a fast learner. When the promo kit for their latest album, Arrows at the Sun, graced my inbox, I figured I’d give this insect-branded act a spin. I’m not sure what rock I’ve been sleeping under, but apparently White Mantis have been thrashing it up as far back as 2012, back when the thrash resurgence was still a thing. Admittedly, their ’10s output, consisting of a few demos and a full length (2019’s Sacrifice Your Future) were released independently, so chances are the High Roller backed Arrows is the first time many of us are hearing of White Mantis.
White Mantis hail from Germany, a country with a rich pedigree of genre defining thrash acts. Taking that into consideration, I figured Arrows follows largely in the footsteps of said elder statesmen, and the opening “Nekrotornado” (A+ song title) most certainly gives this impression. The frantic pace, nonstop riffing, and anthemic chorus recall Kreator and Destruction circa ’87, when both bands abandoned their early black metal and death metal ways in favor of a more straightforward thrashing sound. In other words, think blisteringly fast, but not bestial. I would’ve been more than fine with a full album in this vein. It’s during the second half of the title track, however, where things take a turn for the unexpected.
“Arrows at the Sun” begins as another “Kreator fist fighting Destruction in the pits of hell” rager, before pivoting towards some oddball Voivod flavored prog-thrash maneuvers. I figured this was a one off, but as Arrows progressed, so did the songs themselves, making it abundantly clear that I was listening to more than just another thrash album. White Mantis are not afraid to experiment, and do so in spades, fusing their ripping brand of classic Teutonic speed with unpredictable switchovers and trad metal virtuosity, all the while keeping Arrows a full fledged thrashing affair devoid of unneeded convolution.
When frontman/guitarist Matthias Pletz isn’t shredding his throat like Mille Petrozza in his prime, he delivers a bombastic, shrieky, and forceful clean vocal reminiscent of Raven’s John Gallagher. Keeping this in mind, midpaced cuts like “Pass the Torch” and “Toxic Sniper” give off thrash era Raven vibes (i.e. Nothing Exceeds Like Excess, Architect of Fear). These musical side quests, so to speak, give Arrows a unique flavor, and stand in contrast to the album’s more “straightforward” moments like “Divide and Kill” and “Over Your Pale Bones”. I use the word straightforward in quotations, only because even these songs boast that aforementioned Voivod tinge, which takes the forefront on a disso-thrash flare like “Roboticator”.
With their arrows pointed at the sun, White Mantis have concocted one hell of a label debut. I’m the first to be turned off by albums that surpass the one-time industry standard 40 minute run time, but take my word for it when I say an extra 6 minutes and 55 seconds won’t kill you, at least not in this case. Every bit of Arrows makes sense. It thrashes hard and confounds even harder, making it thee cerebral thrash album of the summer (or what’s left of it)!
7 out of 10
Label: High Roller Records
Genre: Progressive Thrash Metal
For fans of: Kreator, Voivod, Destruction