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WHITE MANTIS
Arrows At The Sun

High Roller (2025)
Rating: 8.5/10

Six years on from debut full-length platter Sacrifice Your Future, German thrashers White Mantis return with ten track sophomore album, Arrows At The Sun. Having formed 13 years ago it’s been quite the journey for original vocalist / guitarist Matthias Pletz who has seen a few members come and go. The line-up is relatively stable now though and consists of lead guitarist Enrico Pertoso, bassist Jan Strobl and drummer Thomas Taube.

This is a surprising little record the more it unravels. Starting out as an all out thrash attack, Arrows At The Sun would fit in quite nicely alongside the Teutonic invasion of the late 80s. Opener ‘Nekrotornado’ hits like a missile as Pletz strips paint with his Mille Petrozza (Kreator) yelps and snaps, while the axe work is a mesh of devastating riffs and sniping solos. When the track ends the listener is almost relieved, but then the onslaught of the title track hits. Okay, so parts of this song are a touch more subtle, but it’s still a vicious assault with some truly crazed and oft kilter vocals.

The most interesting aspect of this album though is when shifts do occur and suddenly the audience is swept up in a Voivod vortex. ‘Pass The Torch’ feels more angular, in spite of still ripping hard. The band has a lethal technicality not too far removed from early Megadeth, especially on the chorus. You’ll also hear strands of Raven, especially in the vocals, but this is an album that won’t be tied down.

Although you get blitzed by so many unorthodox passages, White Mantis are masters at keeping you in a spin, dizzying you with the demented riffs as ‘Roboticator’ feverishly jabs with its gang chants. However, ‘Toxic Sniper’ is completely the opposite, chugging with mid-paced aplomb to a backdrop of wiry chords and percussive triggers.

I don’t feel as if White Mantis has set out to bamboozle anyone though, songs like ‘Divide And Kill’ are very much straight up thrashers, it’s just that the guys have a talent for operating and executing with variation. The fluster of ‘Over Your Pale Bones’ just strikes differently, sniping like vintage Kreator with that dehydrated tone but with extra cosmic lineage.

White Mantis don’t exactly occupy weirdsville, although as thrash metal goes Arrows At The Sun certainly doesn’t stick to a chosen path, but the one it does follow isn’t quite alien either. However, one thing is for sure, this is one of the best thrash albums of the year.

Neil Arnold

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