Sleep in Your Grave [Enhanced]

Manntis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 28, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Century Media
• ASIN: B0009MAOXC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #149,705 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Blending hardcore’s intensity with Swedish death metal’s special brand of melodicism Manntis cuts deep with its debut Sleep In Your Grave. Guitarists Jeremy Swanson and Adair Cobley create a fascinating canon of riffs on tracks such as "Weathered Soul," "Approach" and "Axe Of Redemption," while vocalist Jake Sirokman wails in the tradition of At The Gates front man Tomas Lindberg. If some find that Manntis’ particular approach to metal isn’t always earth-shattering they can rest assured that Sleep In Your Grave is never anything less than ear-shattering, loaded as it is with mosh pit anthems such as the title track, "Shades Of Hatred," "Resist And Overcome" and "My Enemy" (wherein Sirokman unleashes the full power of his voice). This brief burst of brutality, the album clocks in at just under 30 minutes, provides listeners with a powerful taste of this highly promising American metal act. ––Jedd Beaudoin

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Things To Come From This Band, July 13, 2005

By 

Chris Conlan (BreakingCustom.com) (Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sleep in Your Grave (Audio CD)

Review by Tyler Wagnon:

Manntis is yet another band playing catchy, American metalcore a la Lamb of God, God Forbid, and Shadows Fall. However, Sleep in Your Grave is infinitely more entertaining and far heavier than the newer releases from those bands.
Most of the songs are concise and stay under three minutes, giving them enough time to get in, kill it, and get out without meandering around too much. The arrangements are somewhat simplistic, but they are very solid nonetheless, including some nice leads and solos. Sometimes they do a bit of that Swedish melodic crap, but it's kept to a minimum.

The vocals are pretty nice as well as they are the typical throaty screams, but much like Lamb of God, you can actually understand what the man is saying. They drop some clean vocals once or twice, but they aren't overly ambitious and annoying like most.

"Axe of Redemption" is a great opening track as it sets the album up with a high level of energy and is a good introduction to the Manntis sound. Vocalist, Jake Daniels goes for a higher pitch scream on the end of "Reflections of You" that sounds excellent. The album would actually have a bit more depth if he integrated the higher screams more often. "A New Breed of Life" features some of those clean sung vocals mentioned above, which definitely could be done without.

For the most part, Manntis is just another metalcore band, but they have a real knack for writing catchy songs. Despite the lack of originality, Sleep in Your Grave is a surprisingly entertaining listen.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I liked most of what I heard, June 10, 2006

By 

A. Stutheit "Teyad" (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sleep in Your Grave (Audio CD)

And the metalcore bands just keep coming! California's Manntis are one of the many metal bands who've formed in the 21st Century, and bring absolutely nothing new to the table. The genre has already officially been run into the ground, but the record industries keep heaping on groups such as this one. Thus, bands like Manntis are just overkill.

Manntis' popularity began to spread when they were selected to compete on MTV's "Battle Of The Bands." Though they did not win the contest, Manntis are definitely now more successful than the two bands they lost two (the relatively unknown Curse Your Name and the now defunct A Dozen Furies).

Their debut, "Sleep In Your Grave," was released in 2005. It kind of sounds like an amalgamation of every other metalcore record out there today, so it doesn't exactly break new ground. But at least it's a rip off of the genre as a whole, not just one band. (Manntis aren't as big of a copycat as, say, Caliban.)

And, regardless of the almost complete lack of innovation, there is plenty to enjoy here. The music is definitely influenced more by hardcore than metal: the rhythm section is rock hard and saturated with chunky, caustic, almost earth shaking riffs and several (but not too many) catchy breakdowns. Next, the vocals (which alternate between abrasive yells and visceral bellows) split the difference between Shadows Fall, Unearth and Remembering Never, and the production helps greatly contribute to the disc's constant rough edged sound. Lastly, this album also has just the right amount of melody--not too little that you can't notice it, but not too much that it waters down the sound, either.

Plus, "Sleep In Your Grave" includes a few unexpected ingredients which you won't find on the average metalcore C.D. For starters, it's short (28 minutes long), forceful, to the point, and packs a very emotional and intense, driving punch. And the occasional spoken word part, clean backing vocal refrain, high-pitched scream, and ripping guitar solo help to spice these songs up a bit and give them an extra kick.

"Axe Of Redemption" opens up the album with a throbbing rhythm, pounding, churning guitars, and a driving bass drum line. "Reflections Of You" and "A New Breed Of Life" have blood curdling screams, two winding guitar solos, and more heavy, catchy, pounding riffs. (Plus the latter song also features clean, backing vocals which work very well.) Later on, "Resist And Overcome" is bolstered by barbed guitars and a lumbering, cascading rhythm. The album closes with a much more subdued piece, "The End's Where It Begins," which is a nice, if cliche, acoustic strummed ballad which showcases frontman Jake Daniels' attempting a real singing voice.

All told, this disc makes for quite an enjoyable listen. If you're a metalcore fan, there's nothing to dislike on "Sleep In Your Grave." The musicianship on display here is very solid and the songwriting chops aren't too shabby, either.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Won't Surprise, Won't Dissapoint, November 12, 2005

By 

LeftManOut (TheCityThatNeverSleeps, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sleep in Your Grave (Audio CD)

Manntis was in my opinion the second best band on Battle For Ozzfest (the best being the winner A Dozen Furies), and it's only fitting that these guys got a record deal quickly after the success of the show. What surprises me though is the band's signing with Century Media (Shadows Fall, God Forbid, Arch Enemy), one of the biggest indie metal labels around. These guys definitely deserved this kind of opportunity, and ironically ended up on a better label than A Dozen Furies. As for their debut disc, "Sleep In Your Grave", it doesn't necessarily reinvent the metalcore wheel, but Manntis is definitely good at what they do, and have perfected their craft for this release.

It's true that if you've heard any metalcore album by now, then you will undoubtably know what this record has to offer: Powerful vocals, dynamic dual guitars, heavy breakdowns, and a rhythm section that could make anyone's heart collapse. Adair Colby (the group's representative for the show) and his counterpart guitarist churn out the standard Gothenburg influenced riffs, while occasionally adding a touch of hardcore passion. Particularly strong guitar stylings are found on the opener "Axe Of Redemption" (arguably the album's best track) and "Reflections Of You". While the guitar work may not be anything new, it's done quite well, and the intertwining relationship between the two is on par with any of the big metalcore acts of today such as Unearth or God Forbid. The vocals stay mostly in the screaming department, occasionally slipping into the melodic croon that is to far overdone now adays. Lyrically the band doesn't do anything terribly different from the rest of the scene, but hey if it's working for a lot of other bands, then why not Manntis as well? However the only dissapointment that can be found about the release is that undeniably, you've heard this all before in one way or another. There's nothing particularly special about Manntis to seperate them from the crowd, nor is there anything overly amazing about the music. Manntis just knows how to play good metalcore. If you can look past the feeling that you've probably heard most of this record somewhere else before, then you'll probably find a few things about this cd to enjoy.

Although it doesn't break any new ground, "Sleep In Your Grave" is an extremely solid release from a great band. Hopefully Manntis will grow and expand their sound on future releases, but as for now they have definitely delivered a great debut. They're obviously a talented group of guys, and they have enormous potential to grow, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them get rather big, especially after their success on Battle For Ozzfest. So to sum it up, if you like metalcore that doesn't take a lot of chances, but knows what to do when it comes to making good, heavy music, then Manntis is for you. Just don't get dissapointed if you feel like you've heard this before.