HOW THE WORLD CAME TO AN END

I was not aware that Manes released a follow-up to their 2003 album "Vilosophe" until earlier last week. It was sheer coincidence that I noticed the bandname on the cover of an album in one of the local HMV stores in Birmingham. Seeing that it was not too expensive (£10.-) and I had positive experiences with the band from their last album, I thought I'd give the album a go... but then I discovered that I couldn't preview the album, because it was that recently released that it was not yet in the shop's audio system... I took my chances, bought it.. and when I got home played the album for the very first time...

And I was blown away!

They managed to surpass themselves with this new effort. The three years of absence between "Vilosophe" and this new album "How the World came to and End" were definitely worthwhile! As a band these musicians seem to have progressed even further than their already interesting bland of metal and electronica, on this new effort the metal is less present (as in: less riffs), and there's more experimentation with sounds than on their previous album. Still, it all seems like a logical progression to these ears.

Deeprooted shows the band opening this album with a fast paced electronic rock song with great vocals. Yes, the label on the cover of the slipcase was indeed correct: 'A dark progressive mix of metal, triphop and electronica" or something along those lines.

And then something really unexpected happened, yes dear people, it is possible: hiphop in prog! Come to pass features a French hiphip artist and it works surprisingly well. As a matter of fact the guy seems to pop up on a few more tracks. That's one of the many experiments on this album, and they all seem to work for me and it's not just hiphop, there's loads of different electronica styles included on this album, from ambient to trip-/hiphop to hardcore and techno!! And yes, it's definitely progressive by nature!

Overall, the album is a bit less heavy than "Vilosophe" and the aspect seems to lie more upon building on soundscapes with lots of electronica elements, than to rock the listener out of his or her chair or whatever other type of furniture their sitting or lying upon...

That's maybe what makes this album so succesful: the many guest artists that feature on this album, especially on vocals. This makes the whole album one interesting trip to listen to. With a length of nearly 45 minutes, the album is easy to diggest, making it a comfortable experience to put the album on repeat. And you definitely want to put the album on repeat, I noticed that already. Because from the haunted electronic metal of opening track Deeprooted until the final tones of that very depressing closing track Son of Night, Brother of Sleep -which shares similarities with the closing track of the Vilosophe album in the fact that they both feature some sort of 'narration'- it feels like an eerie, yet exhilarating trip!

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