Mantis – Avidity

Having an itch to create something original is obviously a goal every musician strives for, and the duo of Paul Ollinger and Taylor Scott, aka Mantis, is no different. The two have been terrorizing the world of bass-heavy music since 2011, and one listen to their latest EP, Avidity, and you can hear this thirst for ingenuity and individuality. Having utilized their backgrounds in metalcore and death metal music — Ollinger had a brief stint in Attila and Scott played in experimental death metal outfit We Love to Party — they’ve pushed the boundaries between metal and electronic bass by fusing the two in a beaker and watching it froth up and explode.

After cracking the BeatPort top 10 in 2011 with their debut All Worlds, and then achieving top 5 status with their 2012 follow-up, Futures, Mantis had established themselves as heavy-hitters in the up-and-coming bass movement. Since then, the pair have been touring steadily (Australia, most recently), bringing their own brand of “deathstep” to audiences around the world.

Avidity continues the blaze the trail the group have forged. Where their previous efforts seemed to have more of an atmospheric feel, the new album completely blows them out of the water with an aggressive kick to the teeth. The intro/title track bleeds perfectly into “Depths,” which features a collaboration with Makism, a London-based rapper and vocalist. The two acts blend exceptionally well together, with Makism cutting loose on top of the grimy canvas Mantis provides.

“100% Death” is the song you crank at a party that makes the cops come. The sound clips that play before the bass drops are reminiscent of Scott’s We Love to Party days — it’s a certified banger that plays around with audience expectations and rewards them with cathartic release.

But it’s “Back Again” that really stands out here. It has a heavy breakbeat feel to it without straying too far away from the duo’s signature metal-infused EDM, which rears it’s menacing head halfway through. Elsewhere, the EP’s closing track, “Coda,” puts a calming stamp on Mantis’ work by remixing the record’s intro in a very sleek and stylish way.

As a musician, your mission statement should include evolving and mastering your craft, and Avidity definitely covers those bases. It just makes me wonder where these two could possibly go next.

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