“We hope that 2023 will be a year where we can present MANTAH to as many people as possible”
Inspired by modern metal and the 90s nu-metal era, MANTAH bringsyou a cocktail of ‘new’ and ‘nu’!
Hello Mantah! How are you? Nice to be able to interview you. How has the pandemic been going for you all this time?
For us actually pretty good, because Mantah was born out of a corona collaboration of Sven and Bart. But for the rest, of course, we are very happy that the pandemic is behind us.
According to your bio, the band emerged in 2019, so you have been around for a short time. How did the idea of creating the band come about?
As I said. It originated as a corona project of Bart and Sven. There were no big goals. It was making music for fun. But the further we walked along the path, the clearer it became that there was more to it than just a studio project. So we started looking for other band members to make it a full-fledged band.
Who are its current members?
Sven Herssens is our singer. Bart Vandeportaele writes the songs, makes the samples and plays guitar. Dennis Wyffels is our lead guitarist, Bert Nauwynck slaps the bass strings and it’s all held together nicely by Lothar Ryheul, our drummer.
How would you define your musical style?
We make modern metal, where the groove is taking up a central place. We complement this with influences from 90s/00s nu-metal. We are also not afraid to add a lot of electronics like samples, synths and breakbeats.
Let’s talk about “Evoke”, the band’s debut album, which was released at the end of last October. And let me congratulate you, because the album is awesome! How was the editing and recording process?
We recorded everything in Bart’s home studio. He actually owns all the tools to make quality recordings. Of course, it is not to be underestimated do it all by yourself. But we got plenty of help from our producer Tommie Bonajo (Tomster Studios) who assisted us with advice and tips from his studio in the Netherlands to pursue the best possible recording!
In the end, we aimed for a modern, clean mix. Tommie took care of that and also provided us with a master that gave us a punch in the stomach.
How many songs does it include and what are the songs about?
The album contains 9 songs, covering a broad spectrum in terms of music genre. Evoke is about a deep delve in the mind of our singer Sven. The songs on the album show a retrospective of all his emotions, thoughts and occurrences in his (past) life. The songs deal with themes such as: toxic people, overcoming our inner villain, daily struggles and difficulties, scars of negativity and narcissism.
Any audiovisual material?
Of course. First, we launched band with the song Game Over. We immediately recorded a clip with a live feel, because this is how we wanted to present the band. We thought this was the perfect song and clip to introduce the band. Next came “Enemy. Along with that was a cool lyric video/visualizer. Finally, we released the opening track ‘Drown’ from the album. The story of the song was totally visualized in the clip. It was quite a challenging production because it all had to be done in one day. But our producer Philippe Piffet did an amazing job and we are very satisfied with the result!
Regarding the promotion and diffusion of the same. “Evoke” was presented the day after its release in Torhout. How do you remember that night?
It was quite a stressful night for us. We continued the DIY vibe, so we really did everything ourselves. We looked for a cool venue, went looking for a cool support act and then worked everything out. We designed posters, recruited a promo team, searched for volunteers, etc.
So the night itself you are an organizer/performer and it is actually impossible to fully concentrate on the show you have to give. This was quite tough because it was also our very first show ever. But that made it a real challenge for us, so it was actually quite exciting to tackle it like that.
How did you feel on stage?
Once on stage, we felt like all the stress went away. Finally, we could do what we do best! All the frustrations of making a full album, came out in that moment. It was probably a purification process for us to let it all go.
How was the reaction from both the audience and the press?
It was quite surprising for us to see so many positive reactions. This exceeded our wildest expectations and we expected much more backlash. Ultimately, we bring influences from the 90s nu-metal sound, and in the past this music was sometimes blackballed by the real oldschool metal fans. These influences are limited though, but we do let them shine through in our music. So we are really surprised, but mostly very happy with the fact that this new sound is appreciated.
Where is it possible to get a copy of it?
It’s hard to immediately find a label with a debut record. So we just self-released this. The record is available in our webshop, at our shows and in some local CD shops.
Back to the band. What are the plans for the rest of the year? Do you already have upcoming tours or presentations planned?
Right now we are shaping 2023. We are writing organizers and fests, but on the other hand, I also get quite a lot of offers from people who are interested in booking us. We already have some great shows in the meantime, both in clubs and festivals, with the Alcatraz festival as the icing on the cake!
Well Mantah, this is it! Thank you again for your time and just wishing you all the best of luck and success in your career. Before we finish, something you want to say.
Above all, we hope that 2023 will be a year where we can present MANTAH to as many people as possible! And this is best accomplished by playing a lot of shows. So we keep our fingers crossed that we will hopefully succeed in that part of our mission.
Follow the band at:
01-Drown
02-Game over
03-The enemy
04-Abstain
05-Dead inside
06-Breaking away
07 -In vain
08-Unawake
09-Am I
