With all power metal guns blazing, Danish progressive five-piece Manticora make an impressive return with To Live to Kill to Live (ViciSolum Records), the second part of a conceptual project begun in 2018 with To Kill to Live to Kill (ViciSolum), and based on the novel of the same name written by multitasking frontman Lars F. Larsen.

Ignoring the conventional wisdom of leaving your longest song until the end, the band throws you in at the deep end with the epic fourteen-minute ‘Katana – The Moths and the Dragonflies/Katana – Mud’. Portentous horns are quickly followed by huge riffs and pounding drums, spoken word passages, and sensational guitar solos. Far Eastern melodies are backed by guttural roars, black metal shrieks and quasi-operatic vocals as the hugely ambitious opener sounds like Blind Guardian and Nevermore spent five years in Japan with Sigh as their tour guide.

‘To Nanjing’ follows a brief intermezzo which fuses tranquil Japanese koto with slow, dramatic riffs and a gloriously uplifting guitar solo. The battery of ‘The Farmer’s Tale, Pt. 3 – Eaten by the Beasts’ is a different animal entirely, featuring several contrasting vocal styles, while the aggression of ‘Slaughter in the Desert Room’ is offset by the soaring voice of South Korean singer June Dark.

‘Through the Eyes of the Killer – Filing Teeth’ is driven by a teasing, spiderlike riff and a slow, powerful chorus, while ‘Katana – Death of the Meaning of Life’, and ‘Tasered/Ice Cage’ ebb and flow with clarity and focus. ‘Goodbye Tina’ has a laid back, bluesy feel which builds in technicality as it progresses, and ‘Tasered/Removal’ is a sturdy slab of prog power.

Now building towards its dynamic conclusion, the album continues with ‘Stalin Strikes’, a quietly brooding instrumental followed by the spoken word interlude of ‘Ten Thousand Cold Nights’ which in turn segues neatly into the captivating finale of ‘Katana – Beheaded’

Atmospheric, technical, catchy, and compelling, the guitar work of Kristian Larsen and Stefan Johansson is nothing short of superb, while the rhythm section of bassist Kasper Gram and now full-time member, drummer Lawrence Dinamarca is skilfully measured. Even with such a lengthy running time (the album comes in at well over an hour), there is always so much going on with To Live to Kill to Live that the time simply flies by.

8/10

GARY ALCOCK