There’s a good reason why “slow and steady wins the race” is oftentimes a saying that rings true even in today’s world. It’s always tempting to see what a band can throw down in relatively quick fashion, but excellence cannot be rushed lest it come out of the oven undercooked, half-baked, unfulfilled, or whatever else you want to call it. Usually, though, it’s only in a matter of a few years that a band needs to form something in any substantial form. Twelve years? That’s a hell of a length of time, but some can make it seem incredibly worth it. Within the vast expanse of their first full-length album, Maniard’s return after twelve years is as flavorful as it is bombastic.

We have seen the rise of heaviness in all of its many forms, and it should go without saying that we are living in a time that bands are able to explore any and every avenue of heaviness with there being certainty that they’ll find their own path to success as long as they commit to their path and pursue it to the fullest. It’s important to take your time before such overwhelming possibilities and potential, and it’s clear within damn near any given minute of their debut album, “Fragments of Time”, that Maniard really took their time to understand what they wanted to go for with the end-result simply electrifying. A creation that is equal parts patient, monumental in presence, and nigh on eviscerating in key moments, the nine tracks that bring together the 55-minute album is very much of fans of modern heaviness are always salivating for and the kind of work that bands strive to create even once in their lifetime. It’s a devastatingly addictive blend of doom and sludge to dramatic effect while we’re constantly bombarded by impeccable melody, tremendous grooves, and a production that’s seductively smooth and perfectly rough to make for an enthralling contrast that demonstrates how calculated Maniard is at every turn. “Fragments of Time” quickly takes on a life of its own. One would be forgiven thinking that twelve years would result in an effort that’s over-produced in some form or another, but I cannot express how on the contrary the truth is.

What Maniard has crafted here is what the underground is built off of: greatness finding its own way through the darkness to seize its destiny and offer us an experience that we can’t help but claw back to time and time again. From the riffs to the songwriting to the atmosphere to the heaviness to the sheer wherewithal to bring it all together is a single package that holds real power, dominance, and seduction in staggering amounts, it’s the whole of “Fragments of Time” that continuously impresses no matter how long you become lost within this impressive debut. If it takes another twelve years for Maniard to return and match what they’ve done here, then I would argue that such a wait is well worth it.

LISTEN to “Fragments of Time” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Maniard on Facebook here.

FOLLOW Maniard on Instagram here.