{"id":105376,"date":"2025-08-22T00:00:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=105376"},"modified":"2025-09-12T16:01:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T15:01:58","slug":"album-review-white-mantis-arrows-at-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-white-mantis-arrows-at-the-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"WHITE MANTIS – Arrows At The Sun (2025) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHITE MANTIS
\nArrows At The Sun<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nHigh Roller (2025)<\/span>
\nRating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Six years on from debut full-length platter Sacrifice Your Future<\/em>, German thrashers White Mantis return with ten track sophomore album, Arrows At The Sun<\/em>. Having formed 13 years ago it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

This is a surprising little record the more it unravels. Starting out as an all out thrash attack, Arrows At The Sun<\/em> would fit in quite nicely alongside the Teutonic invasion of the late 80s. Opener \u2018Nekrotornado\u2019 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\u2019s still a vicious assault with some truly crazed and oft kilter vocals.<\/p>\n

The most interesting aspect of this album though is when shifts do occur and suddenly the audience is swept up in a Voivod vortex. \u2018Pass The Torch\u2019 feels more angular, in spite of still ripping hard. The band has a lethal technicality not too far removed from early Megadeth<\/a>, especially on the chorus. You\u2019ll also hear strands of Raven, especially in the vocals, but this is an album that won\u2019t be tied down.<\/p>\n

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 \u2018Roboticator\u2019 feverishly jabs with its gang chants. However, \u2018Toxic Sniper\u2019 is completely the opposite, chugging with mid-paced aplomb to a backdrop of wiry chords and percussive triggers.<\/p>\n

I don’t feel as if White Mantis has set out to bamboozle anyone though, songs like \u2018Divide And Kill\u2019 are very much straight up thrashers, it\u2019s just that the guys have a talent for operating and executing with variation. The fluster of \u2018Over Your Pale Bones\u2019 just strikes differently, sniping like vintage Kreator with that dehydrated tone but with extra cosmic lineage.<\/p>\n

White Mantis don\u2019t exactly occupy weirdsville, although as thrash metal goes Arrows At The Sun<\/em> certainly doesn\u2019t stick to a chosen path, but the one it does follow isn\u2019t quite alien either. However, one thing is for sure, this is one of the best thrash albums of the year.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s been quite the journey for original vocalist \/ guitarist Matthias Pletz who has seen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5966],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-white-mantis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105377,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105376\/revisions\/105377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}