Under the needle

From natural disasters and government corruption to being forced to share an office with Sandra in Marketing, the year 2018 has serviced us with more than its share of woeful tidings and catastrophes. And that’s all before The Great British Bake Off Christmas special finally sends us hurtling into a Trent Reznor-esque downward spiral of self-loathing and existential dread. But before we brace ourselves for another fresh host of forthcoming horrors lurking just around the corn

Fire. It’s hard not to stop and be humbled by this lethal, all-consuming element. A violent and unpredictable spark that ignited into being existence as we know it, fuels and sustains life and, by the very same token, can savagely obliterate whole ecosystems and empires in the blink of an eye. Once it gets going, nothing can rival, halt or hope to defeat it. And from blistering, darkly abrasive grooves that audibly crackle with adrenaline to a fiercely relentless work ethic a

'The Modern Art of Setting Ablaze' opens with the stark but beautiful track 'The Knowing' which sounds like it has been lifted straight from a horror movie soundtrack, so when the next track 'Age of the Absurd' comes on, the change of pace is a little shocking but a good one at that. 'Age...' really optimises what Mantar are: hardcore enough for punks but equally dark enough for the metalheads too. They effortlessly blend different elements together to make something that is