Year : 1988
Style : Melodic Heavy Metal , Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans + Video
Size : 100 mb
Bio:
Mantas was the band formed by erstwhile Venom guitarist Jeff Dunn (aka Mantas, naturally) following his acrimonious departure from the group, and their glossy, synthesizer-driven hard rock sound was indeed a far cry from the legendarily crude black metal pioneers. Not that the latter in any way translated into increased record sales, since the group's 1988 debut album - aptly named Winds of Change, and actually recorded four years earlier - was released by the promotionally challenged Neat Records. Both the album and 1989's slightly more aggressive Deceiver EP was very good.Mantas the band (which, incidentally, was rounded out by singer Pete Harrison, second guitarist Al Barnes, keyboardist Keith Nichol, and a drum machine!!!) disintegrated before seeing the 1990s, but a new lineup featuring former Atomkraft and Venom bassist/vocalist Tony Dolan was briefly convened to record 2004's Zero Tolerance LP.
Jeffrey "Mantas" Dunn - guitar (born 22 April 1961) is a British guitarist and one of the founding members of the heavy metal band Venom, with which he played as a guitarist from 1979 to 1985 and 1989 to 2002. From 2015 to 2024, he played in Venom Inc. alongside fellow former Venom member bassist/vocalist Tony Dolan, who he had previously played with in MPire of Evil from 2012.In 1986, Dunn left Venom to form the band Mantas which has recorded two full-length albums, Winds of Change in 1988 and Zero Tolerance in 2004. In 1992, he played guitars for Warfare, a new wave of British heavy metal band.In 2006, Mantas toured with German hardcore techno act Scooter in Germany as an additional member on guitar;[1] he admitted being apprehensive about the job, as he wasn't a fan of Scooter's music, but admitted to greatly enjoying the tour.In 2007, he worked with the band Dryll.[3] In 2009, he guested on German metalcore band Last One Dying's debut album The Hour of Lead and released the Dryll EP Digital Surgery which was available at live shows only.In 2010, Dunn and former Venom members Antony "Antton" Lant (drums; brother of Venom frontman Conrad "Cronos" Lant) and Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan (bass, vocals) formed a band, initially called Primevil and then M-pire of Evil. In 2015, the Venom '89/'90 line-up of Dunn, Dolan and Bray reunited for a concert at the Keep It True festival in Germany, which was the start of what became the band Venom Inc., which released the album Avé in 2017 and toured extensively. The year after, Bray was replaced by Kling.Dunn played guitar on the track "Hold On" by Scott Michael Cavagan (2019).When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020, Dunn releasing tutorial videos on Facebook on how to play Venom and Venom Inc. songs. This later developed into livestreams, usually twice a week, first on his personal Facebook page, later on his official Jeff Mantas Dunn page.
Album:
Debut full-length album.In the late 1980's, some of the founding parties in extreme metal had something of a creative breakdown. The end result is what I'd like to term a trifecta of three similar releases, Celtic Frost's "Cold Lake", Venom's "Calm Before the Storm", and this, Mantas's solo offering. All of which attempt to follow or at least embrace 80's cliché's as defined by the glam metal scene of the time. Of all three, Winds of Change is considerably the strongest and most coherent.To deem it a musical departure from Venom of old would be a severe understatement. However, this does indeed work in it's favour. Unlike the previously mentioned two albums, which attempt to soften and simplify a black metal idea, Mantas completely does away with any semblance of his black metal roots. The direct upshot of which is that where the other two are caught heavily between the two and come across disjointed and shambolic, Winds of Change has a very focused sound to it.Of course, that "focus" is a lot more convincingly glam. However the nature of the glam is much less akin to a Motley Crue or a Poison, but much more en-lue of a Racer X glammish shred metal. The lyrical content ranges from typical 80's AOR style tripe, most notably seen in "Deceiver" and "Let It Rock", to slightly more interesting fare in the title track, "Western Days" and "King of the Ring", though nothing approaching "profound" is ever really touched upon lyrically and ultimately the lyrics are perhaps the weakest link in the chain. Though I must say it isn't the fault of Pete Harrison at all, since he didn't write the lyrics and does his damnedest to deliver them with vigour. They aren't obnoxiously bad, but they aren't worth digging out the lyric sheet for and simply exist to tie proceedings together.Thankfully, this record needn't rely on it's lyrical prowess. While Mantas was never someone of whom "virtuosic" would apply, he does a fairly good job of convincing otherwise here. The level of musicianship is very competent and technical throughout all the pieces on the record. The three instrumental pieces (and the whole record, really) are full of not just shredding, but crucially tasteful shredding. Guitar wankery is avoided through layering of keyboard components and multitracking of different guitar parts.As for particular songs of merit, the title track is probably my favourite of all, managing to be catchy and technically impressive, especially for a "glam" record. I even find myself forgetting how much the lyrics mean absolutely nothing. Even with how clear it is that a drum machine is used for the tracks, it's a drum machine put through it's paces, rather than one used to simplify. Particularly with the double-bass assault at the end of the piece through the chorus repeat fadeout. I'd also suggest "King of the Ring" and the three aforementioned instrumental tracks as solid pieces, all bordering on a power metal style not unlike Helloween, notably similar to their own "Future World". I suppose it's much like Iron Maiden's "Somewhere in Time" in that respect. All the typical, used and abused 80's tools are in play, keyboard's, synths, drum machines, but everything is used to make the tracks more complicated, rather than to simplify them down. It even has a sorta sci-fi feel to it's production. Even in the softer fare, the single and weakest number here "Deceiver", there's something more technical about it's composition than more predictable fare of the period.Overall, I'd say that if you happen to enjoy the softer end of the metal spectrum, somewhere between Racer X and maybe a Helloween, this is certainly worth a listen. Though nothing even close to black metal can be found here. Not that that's a problem.
Line-Up:
Pete Harrison - Vocals
Mantas - Bass, Keyboards (1988), Guitars (lead) (1988-present), Vocals (2024-present) - See also: ex-M:Pire of Evil, ex-Venom, ex-Venom Inc., ex-Warfare, ex-Last One Dying (live), ex-Dryll, ex-Staggnation, ex-Scooter (live)
Al Barnes - Guitars, Backing Vocals - See also: ex-XLR8R, ex-Venom
Keith Nichol - Additional Keyboards - See also: ex-Oasis
Mark Savage - Drums - See also: ex-XLR8R, ex-War Machine
Production:
Produced: Mantas & Keith Nichol
Engineered and Programming: Keith Nichol
Recorded and Mixed at Impulse Studios
Cover Concept and Design: Mantas
Tracklist:
01. Let It Rock 03:54
02. Deceiver 04:57
03. Hurricane 04:12 instrumental
04. King of the Ring 03:38
05. Western Days 04:05
06. Winds of Change 04:05
07. Desperado 03:56 instrumental
08. Nowhere to Run 04:57
09. Sayonara 02:42 instrumental
+ Video "Deceiver" (Official Video)
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