Artist: MANTICORA
Album: "THE BLACK CIRCUS PART 1 - LETTERS (CD)"

Year: 2006
Media type: CD

MANTICORA was formed in 1997 by Lars Larsen (vocals), Kristian Larsen (guitars) and Mads Volf (drums) – these three have made up the core of the band ever since. In the early days the band was a foursome with bass player Rene as the last member. Soon after the band recorded the now legendary mini CD “Dead End Solution”, which marked the beginning of the MANTICORA-trademark sound; hard hitting power metal with both epic and thrash elements.

In 1998 MANTICORA signed with Intromental Management and shortly afterwards their first record deal was signed with Greek record label Black Lotus. The same year the band added an extra guitarist, Flemming, and a keyboardist, Jeppe, to the line-up. The debut full-length disc, “Roots Of Eternity”, was released in summer 1999, and received tremendously good response from both media and fans around the world.
2000 saw the band signing with the Italian record label Scarlet Records, and half a year later the next opus, the somewhat more melodic album, “Darkness With Tales To Tell”, was released, and once again receiving great acclaim.

In 2001 the band also played at ProgPower Festival in Holland, and all looked good in the MANTICORA camp, when bassist Rene decided to leave the band to focus on his family. Kasper Gram was enrolled in the band as new bass player, and his young energy kicked the band into even higher gear. Along with the change of bassist came also the change of guitarist, as Flemming left MANTICORA and Martin Arendal joined the band.

In 2002 the band played a brilliant gig at the Sweden Rock Festival to a large screaming and headbanging audience. In the fall 2002 “Hyperion” was released. This was the so-far most wide-spanning work of the band; an epic concept album, based on the award winning sci-fi novel “The Hyperion Cantos” by Dan Simmons. The album was whole-heartedly embraced by fans and media worldwide, and with a European tour in spring 2003 (with label mates Platitude as support band) MANTICORA took another step up the ladder.

In early 2004 the band began work on their next disc, “8 Deadly Sins”, yet another conceptual disc, this time about a man who, on his death bed, is reflecting on his past life and the decisions (right and wrong) that he has made and the sins he committed. The album was recorded in March/April 2004 in Jailhouse Studios with producer Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Pretty Maids, HateSphere, TNT etc.). The sound is incredible – an audio experience of the largest scale! Joining the band on this album is keyboardist Finn Zierler (Beyond Twilight, ex-Twilight), making the overall sound more eerie and progressive.

In early 2005 the band toured throughout Europe together with Angra and Edenbridge. The tour was a great success for the band and they made a lot of new fans and friends there. Joining the core of Lars, Mads, Kasper and Kristian was session-guitarist Stefan Johansson and Swedish keyboardist Andreas Lindahl. The band then did their first ever (highly successful) US appareance at the ProgPower Festival in Atlanta, GA (September 2005).

The band has just finalized its 5th full-length album, the first part of the 2-album concept “The Black Circus”. Lyrically it deals with the horror story of a travelling circus in 19th century New England. Once again produced by Tommy Hansen, the album is bigger, better and more adventurous than ever before.

With “The Black Circurs Part 1” you get exactly what you could expect – a band evolving and fine-tuning all their best assets, be it the power metal side of their sound, or the dark/progressive mind. MANTICORA has never sounded better!

TRACKLIST:

1. Enter The Carnival
2. The Black Circus
3. Intuneric I
4. Enchanted Mind
5. Intuneric II
6. Forever Carousel
7. Freakshow
8. Gypsies Dance Pt. 1
9. Intuneric III
10. Wisdom
11. Intuneric IV
12. Disciples Of The Entities

LINE-UP:

Lars F. Larsen (vocals)
Kristian H. Larsen (guitar)
Flemming Schultz (guitar)
Rene S. Nielsen (bass)
Mads Volf (drums)

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