Ever since Ommadon left us behind after a glorious streak of the darkest drone music I had ever heard, there has been a distinct void in my listening habits that I’ve been meaning to rectify but have simply never gotten around to: more drone! When it’s done right, there are few things as compelling, meditative, or downright monolithic. The void hasn’t been from lack of effort, though, as I simply have not been fortunate enough to come across an act that captured my ears and imagination with its power, but patience is always required when dealing with a niche and challenging style like drone metal. Finally, however, my waiting has paid off with the arrival of Mantras and its debut filling that void almost perfectly.

In its essence, the very idea of drone metal is to take the idea of metal to some of its most unforgiving limits with naught but the most seasoned and daring of metal listeners able to sit through such an experience in order to say that they understand the work in question in its entirety, but it’s even then that one must be patient for a quality act of such to come around and deliver such a wonder. For years, there hasn’t quite been something that has come across my radar that has managed to properly scratch that itch, but it’s in every form that Mantras has managed to do so with “Pillars of Creation”. Whereas many acts throughout the world of drone seem to pull from dark places in order to bring their music to life, it’s with its first effort that Mantras sought to set itself apart from a large portion of what much of its contemporaries seek to achieve with the five tracks at play here feeling as though they have themes of light, peace, and transcendence even as there isn’t a single lyric to be had across the entire 47-minute runtime. Immediately, it makes for a significantly different experience even as “Pillars of Creation” follows along many of the same lines that the style has long followed with the inclusion of a gong and the strategic use of ambiance really bringing this album to life in an elusive, ethereal form that simply cannot be denied in any form. Having all the power and magnitude that one would expect from a creation in this particular vein of metal, this is the exact kind of drone metal that I could’ve ever possibly asked for with more than I could’ve possibly asked for in way of sounding just different enough such that it checks off all the boxes for an interesting work of the style without becoming exceedingly boring with the talent and capability of Mantras already being set in stone but just the first few minutes of “Pillars of Creation”.

It’s fitting that such a massive record would take its title from the awe-inspiring famous cosmic structure for the wonder that is the album as a whole, and it’s in every way that the drone metal scene should recognize this debut for the impressive work of heaviness, color, and light that it is. If this is what Mantras is capable of with its very first effort, I shudder to imagine what it’s capable of when it becomes fully settled in with its vision clear as day.

LISTEN to “Pillars of Creation” on Bandcamp here.

Mantras does not have any social media that I could find, so please follow the band on Bandcamp here to stay up to date on future releases.