The Chronicles Of Manimal and Samara – Misantropi
The Chronicles Of Manimal and Samara – Misantropi
Self-Released
Release Date: 12/06/26
Review by Dark Juan
Score: One number before infinity/10
There are bands that sometimes only you see the genius of. Be that the absolute sonic Armageddon of Aussie madmen The Berzerker, the whimsicality of Purson and Rosalie Cunningham, or the Satanic splendour of Coven, or the hypertechnical superiority of Canada’s Protosequence – there are bands that are too eclectic, too intelligent or too out there for the mainstream to fully embrace. This in not Dark Juan trying to gatekeep or anything teenage like that (name three songs! Fuck off.) it is my stating that there are some incredible, unique and deeply irreplaceable bands out there that will not get the level of critical and audience recognition that they richly deserve. That annoys Dark Juan, because for every identikit band that “makes it”, there are a dozen who deserve to be there just as much. The Chronicles of Manimal And Samara are one of those bands, a project that Dark Juan loves because of their absolute uniqueness and willingness to smash through boundaries like they aren’t even there.
Dark Juan is aware that his own viewpoint is to the fore here, as I like to be challenged by what I listen to, and get incredibly bored by bands raking over the same old tropes, or releasing the same album again and again (I’m looking at you AC/DC) because that’s what the fans want – while the fans should be taken into consideration the music that is recorded by the band is what is the most important. Risk-taking should be encouraged – even Iron Maiden went out on a limb with “Seventh Son of A Seventh Son”, incorporating keys and other innovations into their sound and were panned for it at first, before time telling its tale and “Seventh Son” rightly being seen as a real apogee in their career.
There is a point to the above, and that is that I am here (shamefully late, of course, because I have been busy having a career and shit – my apologies to Daphne and Andrea) to once more wax lyrical about my favourite UK-based band, The Chronicles of Manimal And Samara. There have been several fulsome reviews of previous albums by myself about their previous releases on Ever-Metal.com and I am sure you can exercise your fingers and your minds to go and search them out if you wish to. Suffice it to say that Dark Juan is a very committed fan of TCOMAS. The kind of committed that ends up with Dark Juan being committed. Currently, he is committed to dragging the Platter of Splatter ™ from its corral so we can listen to the latest release from this most special of bands.
“Misantropi” is the name of this record, being TCOMAS’s fourth album, and it is, from the opening song, ‘Misantropia’, very different to “Full Spectrum”, “Trust No Leaders” or “Origins”. All three of those albums were blessed with lush and esoteric instrumentation and high concepts, and were musically and conceptually radical, replacing sung vocals with cut-glass poetry and musical oration and not afraid to push the envelope as to just what heavy music is. ‘Misantropia’ is a full-on Metal track, which has already set Dark Juan back a step or two as he was expecting more of the same experimentation and exploration from the previous three albums. This is a real return to the basics – guitar, bass and drums and a reminder of just how powerful those three instruments can be and this is carried throughout the album.
It should be noted that I do not read media blurb on bands before listening to the records because I find it colours my judgement of the music and I like my judgement to be untrammelled. I want to see what images the music unleashes in my head, not what another (better than me) journo has said. With that in mind, let’s carry on.
TCOMAS are angry this time round. This entire album revolves around the concept of being misanthropic and strongly disliking other people. Dark Juan is famously misanthropic, and he is mightily vibing with the concept already, even though he likes Daphne and Andrea. Daphne Ang’s normally ice-cool, cut-glass voice is riven with emotion throughout the album – she is enraged at frequent points on the album, cut-glass perfection split asunder with the blood-red of rage, and her normally smooth and poetic vocal delivery is changed for this album – by god, the lass can sing and emote like fuck. There are points where she veritably oozes rage. Dark Juan is rabidly enthusiastic about this and has become excited because it shows yet another arrow in Daphne’s already overburdened quiver.
EDIT: Dark Juan cannot shake off the feeling that the previous sentence is somehow a bit creepy. Please be assured that it wasn’t meant to be and was MEANT to convey admiration. Fucking hell, autism, give me a break here.
Andrea also deserves credit as well – his vocals range from clean but furious anger to rage-fuelled growling (“We are a fucking plague, we are a fucking disease, we are sick with the fucking disease.”) and his guitar work is absolutely fucking stellar throughout the whole album. There’s a Tool-like technical intensity throughout the album – complex musicianship overlaid by lyrics that spit venom and hatred and frequently resort to swearing and abuse in the way that an angry person is at their stupidest, reduced by rage to screaming curses that barely qualify as language. ‘Girotondo’ absolutely displays this, Daphne howling vituperative curses over some of the most massive guitars I have ever heard.
I love The Chronicles of Manimal and Samara. I fucking adore them. They are able to take a primal concept such as misanthropy and turn it into art. They are the epitome of intelligence conquering mere accumulations of brain chemicals and turning it into something that beguiles and bludgeons at the same time.
If you want to listen to a record for people who hate people, then this is the album for you. I have already stated on many occasions how I think that The Chronicles of Manimal and Samara are a future classic band, and this album is what I would submit as proof of that statement. It is fucking incredible.
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System is overwhelmed. All safety cutouts have been overridden, and it lies a broken, smoking ruin, torn asunder by the hatred the TCOMAS have committed to record. The last score the gauge showed before it exploded was one number before infinity/10.
Please buy TCOMAS’s records. Make them absolutely fucking colossal. They should be.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Misantropia
02. 128
03. Superstupidity
04. Divided
05. The Last Plague
06. Inside
07. Girotondo
08. Lucky Ducker
09. Cannibal Mind
LINE-UP:
Daphne Ang
Andrea Papi
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Dark Juan and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
