MANTICORA, the Danish prog-thrash veterans, are releasing the first single/video “The Farmer's Tale, Pt. 3 – Eaten by The Beasts “ from their upcoming album "To Live To Kill To Live", the follow-up and 2nd part of a huge concept, to 2018's "To Kill To Live To Kill" - both albums, based on the 334-page horror/thriller novel that lead singer Lars F. Larsen wrote (also released in 2018).
The video for the song "Eaten By The Beasts" deals with the brutal murder of a young criminal, who has raped the daughter of a farmer. The farmer hires a hitman to get rid of the rapist, and the rapist is eaten alive by a number of huge, hungry pigs, owned by the farmer. It's all karma, and the video is based on the concept.
The music on both albums was recorded partially in the band's own studio and recorded/mixed in Hansen Studios, with World-famous producer, Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, Destruction, a.o.) who also produced the first two MANTICORA albums back in the last millenium.
MANTICORA have released 8 critically acclaimed albums, since 1999, and toured numerous times around Europe, North America and Japan + played at prestigious festivals, such as Wacken Open Air, Sweden Rock Festival, Copenhell, Karmøygeddon, ProgPower USA, etc.
Tracklist for "To Live To Kill To Live":
01. Katana - The Moths And the Dragonflies/Katana - Mud
02. To Nanjing (instrumental)
03. The Farmer's Tale Pt. 3 - Eaten By The Beasts
04. Slaughter In The Desert Room
05. Through The Eyes Of The Killer - Filing Teeth
06. Katana - Death Of The Meaning Of Life
07. Tasered/Ice Cage
08. Goodbye Tina
09. Tasered/Removal
10. Stalin Strikes (instrumental)
11. Ten Thousand Cold Nights
12. Katana - Beheaded
Influences
Iced Earth, Savatage, Blind Guardian, Dream Theater, Ayreon, Pain Of Salvation, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Symphony X etc...
ONLINE
LINEUP
Lars F. Larsen – vocals
Kristian Larsen - guitars
Stefan Johansson - guitars
Kasper Gram - bass
Lawrence Dinamarca - drums
BIOGRAPHY/LOGO
MANTICORA was formed in 1997 by Lars Larsen (vocals), Kristian Larsen (guitars) and Mads Volf (drums). In the early days the band was a foursome with bass player Rene as the last member – the young guys laying the foundation of the MANTICORA-trademark sound; hard hitting power metal with both epic and thrash elements.
In 1998 MANTICORA signed with Intromental Management and shortly afterwards their first record deal was signed with Greek record label Black Lotus. The same year the band added an extra guitarist, and a keyboardist, to the line-up. The debut full-length disc, “Roots Of Eternity”, was released in summer 1999, and received tremendously good response from both media and fans around the world.
2000 saw the band signing with Scarlet Records, and half a year later the next opus, “Darkness With Tales To Tell”, was released, once again receiving great acclaim. In 2001 bassist Rene decided to leave the band. Kasper Gram the new bass pounder. Also the guitar spot was changed, as Flemming left MANTICORA and Martin Arendal joined the band.
In the fall 2002 “Hyperion” was released. This was the so-far most wide-spanning work of the band; an epic concept album, based on the award winning sci-fi novel “Hyperion” by Dan Simmons. The album was whole-heartedly embraced by fans and media worldwide, and with a European tour in the spring 2003 MANTICORA took another step up the ladder.
In early 2004 the band began working on and releasing their next disc, “8 Deadly Sins”, yet another conceptual one. The album was recorded in Jailhouse Studios with producer Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Pretty Maids, etc.). In February 2005 the band toured throughout Europe together with Angra and Edenbridge. The tour was a great success for the band and they made a lot of new fans and friends there. Joining the band, was session-guitarist Stefan Johansson. The band then did their first ever (highly successful) US appareance at the ProgPower Festival in Atlanta, GA.
With Martin Arendal (guitars) returning to the fold after the tour, the band once again went into studio, to record it’s 5th full-length album, the first part of the 2-album concept “The Black Circus”. Once again produced by Tommy Hansen, the album was bigger, better and more adventurous than ever before. After a mini-European tour, alongside Andromeda, MANTICORA hit Jailhouse Studio to finalize the 2nd part of “The Black Circus”. With the new album in their now extended catalogue, MANTICORA went on both European and USA tours, as support for Jon Oliva’s Pain, and another tour was booked for Europe in May 2009, as support act for Circle II Circle. This time, going through 16 countries for 21 shows.
In 2010 MANTICORA’s 7th full length album was released worldwide. “Safe” was an even darker journey in the musical universe of MANTICORA. A European headliner tour was booked for October 2010, taking the band through nine different countries.
In August 2012, MANTICORA finally performed at the world’s largest metal festival – Wacken Open Air, and it lead to the band, re-opening the goodie-bag of writing new material. April 2013, saw the band, playing the prestigious PPM festival in Belgium, and a month later, Martin Arendal played his last show with MANTICORA. Stefan Johansson – who appeared as session musician on the 2005 Angra tour, was enrolled as new guitarist and when bassplayer Kasper Gram left the band in December, Sebastian Andersen joined the band.
After another European headliner tour in 2014, Mads Volf decided to leave the drum-throne, to pursue other musical endeavors, and MANTICORA spent 4 years, writing a grandiose double concept album, based on the 334 page novel, that leadsinger Lars wrote in the meantime.
In august 2018, MANTICORA released their so far most ambitious work, the 8th full length album ”To Kill To Live To Kill”. The album was produced by Jacob Hansen to secure an aggressive and modern sound.
In september 2018 the band toured North America, supporting the progressive metal band Persefone from Andorra, thus debut’ing now both in Mexico and Canada.
January 2019 saw Sebastian Andersen leave the band and shortly after, Kasper Gram returned as a session-bassist for the band. MANTICORA is now planning on recording and releasing part two of ”To Kill To Live To Kill” but before that, they will be heading out on their 4th European headliner tour in March 2019 as well as playing loads of summer festivals around Europe.
DISCOGRAPHY
Roots of Eternity - 1999
Darkness with Tales to Tell - 2001
Hyperion - 2002
8 Deadly Sins - 2004
The Black Circus Part 1 - Letters - 2006
The Black Circus Part 2 - Disclosure - 2007
Safe - 2010
To Kill to Live to Kill - 2018
To Live to Kill to Live - 2020
GENRE/COUNTRY
Progressive Power/Speed Metal
Denmark