When most people hear the word “mana,” they probably think of life—as its meaning throughout Polynesian and Maori cultures both liken it to a sort of manifestation of the spiritual powers of nature. Mana Tomb, an up-and-coming deathcore band that channels the primal aggression and lacerating technicality of the genre’s MySpace era, is something a little less elegant and more eviscerating. A young band formed by members with decades of experience in the underground heavy music circuit, Mana Tomb is a crushing dose of deathcore with a technical and terrifyingly heavy twist that are bound to captivate the ears and minds of riff, breakdown and groove enthusiasts the whole world over by the time 2023 is said and done.
Founded during the height of the COVID pandemic, Mana Tomb is the brain child of members from some of deathcore’s most integral bands, including Carnifex, A Black Rose Burial and Her Demise, My Rise. Over the following months, Mana Tomb’s debut release—When Reality Fades and Forgiveness is Forgotten—would start to take shape, and was finally recorded at Rapture Recordings in California with Cody Fuentes (Spite, Wolf King). With a brand new EP finalized and a completed lineup, it’s only a matter of time before Mana Tomb expand their dominion over deathcore and become a staple act in the world of heavy music. By taking traditional deathcore and combining it with both technical and groove-heavy elements and finishing it off with modern—but not overbearing—production, the band’s release is a strong frontrunner for one of the underground’s most aggressive (and awesome) releases of the year. In short, Mana Tomb have crafted a sound and style that gives fresh life to the genre, while all the while sounding heavy enough and hitting hard enough to bury the listener alive.