BURN THE WITCHES: An interview with MANTAR

Have you listened to Mantar's debut album yet? If not, you'd better hurry up and do so and prepare to be blown away, as these guys have released one of the catchiest, heaviest, most groove-laden metal album of 2014. I recently got in touch with them via email and Hanno (guitar/vocals) was super cool and allowed me to bug him with questions about his gear, band t-shirts and their recent performance at Roadburn Festival 2014. Read the interview below then check out their official website, full of videos and other good stuff. Mantar = U ARE MOSHING!

1. Hello dudes and greetings from Romania hell! We know that you have been on a trip recently. Have you made it home alright? How are you feeling?

Hails to Romania! Yes, we are back home. All cool. Thanks for asking.

2. You have just played Roadburn Festival in the Netherlands on the 10th of April. Exciting stuff! How was it? It must have been amazing to play at such a huge festival. What was the crowd's response? Tell us all about it!

Yes, we did. We feel quite honered to have been invited to this important festival right in the first year of existence of the band. That´s very cool and means a lot to us. You meet shitloads of nice people and good bands all over the place. happy to have seen that. was the first time for us. The response was very good. The people bought a lot of merch and we heard very nice things regarding our band from fans as well as from the journalists. It was cool to see people from all over the world rocking out in the first rows and knowing all your songs. It was cool that some people even sang along. You know, we haven´t played much shows yet so this was very exciting for us.

3. What were the highlights of Roadburn for you? Any bands you were super stoked on seeing? Also, did you manage to snag any cool merch?

Honestly both of us ain´t very nerdy about merch. We sure wear band shirts, but that´s it basically. None of of us a is a collector. When I buy stuff I usually buy tapes though.

I really wanted to see some bands but didn't manage to do so as we have been busy with a lot of other stuff over the day. And as we have been on tour we only have been there for one day.

Unfortunately i was kinda sick the whole day but in the end we managed to put on a good show I guess.

4. Speaking of which, kudos to you for offering white Mantar tshirts. White band tshirts rule! Do you intend on introducing more stuff on your store? Do you design your own tshirts?

We sure will come up with more shirts within this year. We also think that white shirts rule as most cool band shirts are black. We have a new design called THE HUNTSMEN which is pretty bad ass. Friends of ours design all our stuff.

[Cool! Can't wait for the new design to show up on the store!]

5. You seem to be against the term "sludge" and we won't grill you about it anymore. However, what are some decidedly "sludge" bands that you appreciate?

Do you call INDIAN a sludge band? if that´s the case i really dig INDIAN.

[Not sure if  they're sludge or not but Indian are great! From All Purity is punishing!]

Hanno's "bare-bones" setup

6. Hanno, you said it yourself, you're a guitar dork. We also enjoy a good amount of guitar dorkery, so we were wondering what guitar do you play, what guitar you plan on purchasing once you become filthy rich via playing obscure violent music (LOL) and what does your pedal board look like these days?

My pedal board is fucking huge. A ridiculous joke. But I need that to play three amps simultaneously. Lots of stuff on it bust most of all is about splitting the signal and different distortion pedals. Some octavers too to provide the low end. Not much modulation though. Some delay. That´s it. I play a cheap LTD SG shaped Bariton guitar with Bill Lawrence (RIP!) pick ups which I basically put in every of my guitars. I love them. Cheap and great in tone and response. I hate active pickups. I don´t care about expensive equipment. I make the best out of the stuff I can afford. I recorded the whole record with a guitar which costs 215 euros brand new! If I ever get some money I will get something custom build I guess.

7. We're super into junk food here at TZEEEAC and seeing how you're a German-Turkish duo, we must ask: who would win in an ultimate fight between currywurst and kebab?

I am an vegetarian and eat none of this stuff. If i would i´d choose the currywurst. I am a down to earth guy. Haha. No fancy shit.

8. Your music is all about RAW POWER and Death by Burning is still on heavy rotation over here. Any plans on fucking everybody's faces off again with more material?

Sure thing. you bet! We are already writing new stuff and hope it´s gonna turn out great. But no pressure. The record just came out...

9. 3 essential metal albums to come out in 2014 so far?

Puhhh. What the fuck do I know?? It´s YOUR job to tell me that ;-)

[Haha fair enough! Check out Monolord, the new album by Thou, Cormorant, Have a Nice Life, Nothing and whatever Floor is coming up with]

10. Thanks so much for chatting with us and good luck with your upcoming shows! Hopefully we'll see you around these parts too. The last words are yours, so take it away. UGH!

Thanks for your interest in MANTAR. We really appreciate that. Spread the word!