Customer Reviews

Sleep in Your Grave

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

All i have to say is Manntis was cheated on battle for ozzfest, but it doesn't really matter, since there on a better label then the winners ADF!!! this album rules.

Some who probably don't know, these guys were chosen to be a part of Battle For Ozzfest last summer, and guitarist Adair Cobley was chosen to be part of the crew as a representative of the band. As part of the crew, he and his other competitors had to endure certain tests to prove their might as a part of a band on the road. One such task was performing with a second stage act in front of countless concert goers. Adair played guitar with Darkest Hour, and put on one hell of a performance. The final task was for each person to perform with their band in front of such a crowd. Manntis was good enough to make it to the final three to perform, but didn't win. Fast forward to 1 year later, the band has a contract with Century Media and a debut album that is easily one of the best of the year. Enough has been said, check these guys out.

As some of you might know, Manntis was one of the bands that was represented in MTV's Road to Ozzfest, a reality show showcasing some of the best little known bands at the time in an "Apprentice" type of setting. Thanks to their great showing on the show, "Sleep In Your Grave" is their first major label release.

I've heard some people call this band a "metalcore" band. I honestly don't know what that is, call it unmetal but for those of you that prefer certain classes of metal, there you go. I think this CD is a heavy, hard hitting and dual guitar riff heavy kind of sound. Most of the tracks on this album demonstrate the guitar talents of guitarists Adair Cobley and Jeremy Swanson. These 2 are quite impressive as a tandem. I wouldn't say Kirk Hammet and James Hetfield or Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman but these 2 guys really know how to compliment each other on every track.

Most of the songs are extremely thrash, with most of the progression coming from the guitars and the screaming, raspy voice of singer Jake Daniels. I saw that some people here think that their music is predictable and somewhat boring. I have to disagree for a few reasons. First off, this is their first major label release and anyone new to them wouldn't be able to tell what's predictable or not so if you ask me, it's a moot point. And boring? Not sure how you get that because 90% of the music on this CD is fast. If you were bored by this album maybe you should've bought something from Mayhem, Gorgoroth, Dimmu Borgir or Slayer.

I really only had one small problem with this album and that it's way too short. It clocks in at about 38 minutes or so. I personally wanted more but hey that's how it goes. I will say that just as I have already stated, the guitars on this CD are amazing but unfortunately it tends to drown out the bass and drums and sometimes even the lyrics at times. This is still a good listen and I'm glad that I picked this up.

I won't say that Manntis is my new favorite band but "Sleep in Your Grave" is definitely going to make it's way to my iPod. Me being a guitar guy, I'd give this CD a 4.5 but on an overall, I'd give it a 3.75. I hope these guys can come up with some more great stuff like this. Very impressive album!

I thought that this was a good cd, all the songs sound very good and its short, so you wont be waiting for any song to end. The guitars in this were also pretty good, some cool solos and lots of great riffs. Most people probably hate this because they were on the mtv show battle for ozzfest, if I never would of watched that, I never would of known about this cool band. So I think that anyone who enjoys good metalcore/ hardcore music, you should definetly go and pick this up. This is a good cd.

well adair is one heck of a guitar played and i dont doubt that it shows on the new debut from century media with label mates shadows fall, but they deliver with sleep in your grave, i was hoping for adair and manntis to win especially after watching them perform on the second stage when the lead singers nose started bleeding. but well worth the purchaase of straight up ear bleeding metalcore- or in his case nose bleeding

but every second of it is metal gold. this cd is so much better than i was expecting them to be watching battle for ozzfest . i cant spell the guys name but you all know who he is he was my favorite cast member and from listening to this cd one hell of a guitar player. although the cd in itself is short none of the songs seem to be too short. this is a great cd century media continues to show why they are one of the best if not th best metal label out there.

The guitarwork is fantastic, but I have two chief complaints: A good cd needs something to slow down the tempo every couple of songs. There's nothing that breaks the monotony. The final track, "The end is where it begins" would have been much better somewhere in the middle. The hardcore vocals are also good to a point--but song after song there is little change in the bellowing and ends up sounding monotone. I don't distinguish between "metal" and "metalcore" so I won't enter that debate. This album has alot of energy, I just think it could have been more properly channeled.