Album Review: Mæntra - Kundalini Rising
Reviewed by Dan Phipps
San Fransisco death metal act Mæntra are an act who may make you reevaluate how you see death metal. The 4 piece are going to present a collection of tracks which are going to capture the ferocious nature of the genre but will so along with that ferocity present that fury in a whole new light. Capturing meditative atmosphere Mæntra are going to take you on an audio tour of the 7 chakras and the result of this tour is titled Kundalini Rising which is the bands self released debut album.
Kundalini Rising is a piece of pure annihilating death metal meets grind mayhem. Throughout its 7 tracks the San Francisco band offer a vicious display of intensity, be it tracks giving you a more groove based foundation like the albums opening track 'Muladhara' which offers a sound similar to Misery Index its selection of solid grinding riffs matched with great groove or tracks like 'Vishuddah' and 'Ajna' which has a massive Origin feel possibly helped by the fact Origin mastermind Paul Ryan plays bass and leaves his unmistakable scream throughout the record.
These tracks are just sheer aggression and being kept towards the end of the record really give Kundalini Rising it’s second wind. Along with Mæntra’s blend of grinding brutality the band offer a variety of musical twists and turns brought by guitarist and vocalist Rudy Pina who formed Mæntra alongside drummer Adam Houmam (Ghoul/Terrorizer LA) in 2017. Kundalini Rising compliments the twists with numerous atmospheric tones supplied by keyboardist Martin Boynton all through, with the lyrical output being intentionally empowering and healing energy to the album's listener.
The theme based around meditation may seem like an odd concept for a death metal record but those themes combined with the sheer annihilating force of the tracks gives Kundalini Rising a real kick and great overall atmosphere and sound. The record is packed with ferocious grind elements and powerful and stunningly potent death metal fury. It lives up to repeat listening and will give you something to keep going back to again and again.
