Great guest musicians and solid song writing ideas - A review of B.A.R.F.'s Mantra

French-Canadian hardcore thrash metal band Blasting All Rotten Fuckers rose from its ashes six years ago and released a stunningly diversified, energizing and entertaining comeback record with Brûle Consume Torture four years earlier. Released by the small label Boîte à musique, the band's sixth full length release almost slipped under my radar. If compared to the predecessor, Mantra is much more aggressive and straight-forward, going at times back to the band's chaotic roots. However, the record's first half is lacking diversity and at times repetitive but the second half goes back to the high quality of the predecessor.

''Tomahawk'' is a first highlight. Lyrically, it honors Canada's first nations. Musically, it even offers some throat singing. Backing vocals were provided by Neurotic Mutation's Sébastien Croteau and Groovy Aardvark's Vincent Peake. The track has a lot of imaginative changes and is quite long for a hardcore thrash metal band with five and a half minutes. 

''Mantra d'apocalypse'' goes even further and breaks the six-minute mark, coming around with carefully employed symphonic elements and a truly haunting middle section with a narrative part. Both elements add to the dramatic and epic atmosphere of the quasi-title track. 

Closing track ''Fade Out'' offers a more light-hearted finale and is actually a duet between B.A.R.F.'s Marc Vaillancourt with his aggressive throaty vocals and the more folk-inspired tell-tale efforts by Mononc' Serge. The two singers discuss whether the record should end with a fade-out as Marc Vaillancourt describes fade-outs as a lack of imagination while Mononc' Serge argues that this device ends songs with dignity. The lyrics are quite hilarious and the vivid music makes for a true party anthem.

After a slow start, a strong middle section and excellent finale save this album. Mantra offers brutal hardcore thrash metal but includes welcome ambitious song writing ideas, atmospheric instrumental passages and a few diversified guest musicians and singers. This might not be B.A.R.F.'s greatest hour but fans of the band will certainly appreciate the new release and enjoy the new material in concert. Newcomers to the band should start with the predecessor Brûle Consume Torture that showed the band at its most creative time to date.

Final rating: 70%