On their last studio album, "Zeichen", MANTUS portrayed a world on its way to the abyss, populated by a thoughtless species acting like God while failing to see the irreparable damage that this behavior causes. The brand new EP "Sünder" ('sinner') continues this apocalyptic picture, and is even more hopeless, more desolate and darker than the last album.
Without shrinking away from uncomfortable topics, Martin and Thalia Schindler summon a gripping gothic maelstrom, put their finger into the gaping wounds of society and point our attention to grievances too often ignored and played down. This outcry, this protest veiled in gothic darkness sounds especially impressive on the title track, which addresses the clergy's horrible crimes. But it doesn't end here: with the all-too-true words in "Goldener Strand", MANTUS denounce the dissociation of the 'First World' from the poor whose misery they are also responsible for, while "Traumzauberwald" once again puts the necessary estrangement from the erring human race in the focus of a song influenced by enchanted spinet sounds. This EP is darkly musical escapism in its purest essence.
Stylistically true to the gloomy romantic MANTUS codex of leaden guitars, danceable and pushing midtempo rhythms and orchestral beauty, the duo have invested even more passion into the marriage of heavy riffs and wallowing orchestral walls – with an unrivalled result: the strings, pianos, spinets and electronic elements merge with guitars and drums and become shimmering black gems whose enigmatic attraction cannot be resisted. In that, even the daring but ingenious cover version "Etikette Tötet" makes no exception. MANTUS interpret a German punk legend – a must hear!
Only one year has passed since "Zeichen" - and MANTUS have already taken a huge step foward. Passionate, true to the past and yet contemporary, this EP proves how the classic gothic genre can get fresh impulses even in 2011. "Sünder" is living proof why 'goth' need not lose its relevance.
