French progressive metal band Mantra has consistently pushed the boundaries of music with their conceptual albums. Known for blending complex musical structures with deep philosophical themes, the band has once again embarked on an ambitious project with their latest release, Celestial. This album marks the first of four releases in a series, each corresponding to a different season, showcasing Mantra’s dedication to creating a comprehensive artistic experience.
Celestial follows the narrative path laid by their 2019 album LANIAKEA, continuing the band’s exploration of civilization and its impending collapse. As part of their feature on the Progotronics XLV compilation, Celestial offers a blend of long, immersive tracks, lyrical choirs, and unique instrumentation like the oud, adding new dimensions to the band’s signature sound.
In this interview, Mantra delves into the inspiration behind Celestial, the creative process, and the themes of collapse and renewal that shape the album. With the release of the first chapter, Fall, the band shares insights into how the seasons influence the music, and how they plan to translate this ambitious project into their live performances.
With Celestial being a continuation of the narrative from LANIAKEA, how did you develop the concept for this new album? What inspired the shift to a philosophical tale about the collapse of civilization?
Our album Laniakea was a ‘prehistoric’ album: we wanted to project ourselves into a primitive world, where everything had yet to be invented, where things were simpler, but also where almost everything had yet to be explained. Our album ended on the track ‘Dead Sun’, with the discovery of metallurgy as a sort of warning: from then on, everything accelerates exponentially.
Four years later, after writing Medium about the body/mind duality, we wanted to write about another facet of the civilizational life cycle: we wanted to write about collapse, and the renunciations it implies for our species. Everyone today is confronted with the issue of global warming and wonders what will become of our world.
The album Celestial is being released in four parts, each corresponding to a season. How did you decide on this structure, and what significance do the seasons and their corresponding chapters hold in the context of the album’s story?
Our initial intention was to write a narrative, to create a storyline where the listener would follow a character through several chapters. We also wanted to prolong the pleasure of the moment when we unveil our songs and their universe, and create a sense of suspense. Our previous albums already featured a number of references to the course of the stars, the sun and the seasons, so we aligned both our story and the release of the different chapters with the solstices and equinoxes: 4 seasons, 4 moods, 4 sides of vinyl, and a release spread over 9 months.
The first part of the album, Fall, was released on September 22, 2024. Can you give us a preview of what fans can expect from this initial chapter and how it sets the stage for the rest of the album?
Fall is first and foremost an entrance to the album: it lays the foundations both musically, with its slightly metallic progressive rock, and lyrically, since it reveals most of the elements of the narrative that will be developed later. What we hope is that people will see the care we’ve put into these tracks and that they’ll be eager to be at the winter solstice on 21 December to discover ‘Winter’!
Celestial is described as having long tracks, lyrical choirs, piano, and oud. How did you incorporate these elements into the music, and what new dimensions do they add to Mantra’s sound?
For our previous album ‘Medium’, we had a very strict compositional framework because of the concept of superimposing the two sides of the vinyl. We had opted for minimalist arrangements to leave room for when the two tracks would be layered on top of each other. In contrast, the idea here was to set ourselves no limits and add as much as we wanted. We also didn’t want the seasons to look the same, so we wanted to add specific elements that would give each one a different colour. For some of these elements we did it by ourselves (piano, orchestra, percussion), for others we brought in professional musicians (oud, lyrical singing).
Your previous album, MEDIUM, explored the mind-body duality through two epic tracks. How does Celestial build upon or differ from this concept, and what new themes or ideas are you exploring?
‘Medium’ was a very abstract, philosophical and conceptual album. In comparison, Celestial is more concrete because it tells a story, so at first it was easier to make choices in terms of music, text, visuals and staging. On the other hand, later on it also became a constraint because we had a very precise idea in mind and all the elements had to be coherent with each other, so that sometimes took a long time or pushed us to do things ourselves (for example for the visuals and the video clip, made by members of the band).
Mantra’s music often integrates ritual-like stage atmospheres and contemporary dance. How do you plan to incorporate these elements into your live performances of Celestial?
We’re going to work and reveal this progressively. The idea is to do a release show for each of the seasons, where we play the new songs on stage in their entirety. We’ve started working with a stage director (Annabelle Piery), we’re preparing various decors to encourage immersion and the narrative, and we’ll again be accompanied by Melvin Coppalle, a contemporary dancer who has already worked with us on Medium. As soon as we started working on the album, we had ideas on how to transpose certain sections to the stage. Our aim when preparing the concerts is to immerse people in the performance and give them a powerful experience that will leave a lasting impression.
The album Celestial involves a mysterious disc from another world. How did you develop this fictional element, and what role does it play in the narrative of the album?
The inspiration came from the ‘golden record’, a golden disc that was sent into space on the Voyager probe. Engraved on it are various messages representing our planet and the human civilisation, as well as some musical extracts. The initial idea was to imagine the impact it might have on a person to discover an object like this. Then we thought: ‘what if the disc we received heralded the end of civilisation, like a celestial message in a bottle?
Can you describe the creative process behind the music for Celestial? How did the collaboration between the band members influence the final product?
The writing process for this album was exactly the same as for our previous albums, despite the line-up change: we get together for week-long periods with the four of us, composing constantly with a computer to experiment with ideas, capture what works and produce a full demo. We started composing in 2020 and finished in 2022. However, we continued to develop and refine a few parts remotely until the end of 2023. This album took a really long time and we needed much more sessions than for previous albums. There are a lot of tracks and a lot of details to be fine-tuned. We’re very demanding with ourselves, so we don’t let anything slip through the cracks: if one of the band members thinks that a passage needs to be reworked, we stick at it until it sounds right!
You’ve previously incorporated complex concepts and musical enigmas into your work. How does Celestial push the boundaries of complexity in your music?
All Mantra albums start from a simple concept. It’s like a fractal: the resulting material becomes increasingly complex as it develops. And what goes beyond that with each new album, and Celestial in particular, is that we also reference concepts developed in previous albums, so that the entirety of our music resonates together.
The album features influences from bands like Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Gojira, Tool, and The Ocean. How do these influences manifest in Celestial, and how do they blend with your unique sound?
These bands have contributed to the general vision of the music we want to write with Mantra, rather than any particular album or track: these artists write their music with a meticulous attention to detail, with rhythmic patterns, harmonies and structures that genuinely make you want to listen to the albums over and over again to really grasp their construction. These are also bands who have successfully constructed a whole universe around their music: whether it’s a recurring theme, mysterious visuals or stage concepts, we really like artists who offer something for the listener to explore. This vision has been a big influence on Mantra.
The album’s lyrical content is described as both mystical and pragmatic. Can you share some insights into the themes and metaphors explored in Celestial?
It’s a pragmatic album because it’s the first time the band has tackled concrete, everyday subjects: the physical limits of the world, climate change, the fact that we’re all somewhat stunned by what’s about to fall on us. But it’s also an album with a strong mystical dimension. There’s a sense of mystery and spirituality in our story, a desire to call on the listener (and the viewer) to refocus on what really matters. We use symbolism and numbers a lot in the composition of our music as well as in the visuals – we’re almost trying to give our album a supernatural dimension, actually!
Can you discuss the decision to use long tracks and unconventional instruments like the oud in Celestial? How do these choices reflect the album’s concept and narrative?
At the beginning, we wanted to start our degrowth, where each of us had to choose a non amplified instrument. It took us some time to choose the ones and practice them. This exploration ended in a mix of traditional instruments and amplified ones to push our purpose further. So in one of the seasons of Celestial you will hear something really new. Long tracks are required for this kind of journey.
You’ve mentioned that fans who pre-order the double vinyl will have early access to future seasons. How important is fan engagement to you, and what other special experiences do you plan to offer?
Releasing a double LP is already a huge step for us. It was all made possible thanks to the help of Vlad Productions, who we’d like to thank for all their hard work in helping their bands.
The idea behind this pre-order idea is always to make the pleasure last, both for ourselves and for the fans. To rediscover the excitement of waiting for the next installment in your favourite series or book, to give people something to look forward to. Plus giving ourselves time to build on the band’s universe: video clips, staging the show, and so on. We’re hoping to hook people and make them want to tell others about us, and that this will enable us to develop the band, play some great venues, etc.
The different seasons (Fall, Winter, Spring) will be available on streaming platforms and on Youtube. Fans can also choose to pay a few euros for a ‘premium’ digital version containing bonuses and support for the band. And indeed, those who pre-order the double LP will have access to all 4 premium editions, which is the least we can do!
What do you hope listeners will experience when they hear Celestial in its entirety? Are there specific emotions or thoughts you want to evoke through this album?
We can’t give too much away about how the album closes, but what we hope is that they will feel rewarded for their patience and feel like they have participated in something artistically worthwhile. And hopefully this album can be some kind of marker for them and the beginning of a process of change, regardless of where they are in their lives. For us in any case, writing and recording this album has been a real voyage that has certainly changed who we are, in one way or another.
How does Celestial reflect the current state of the world and the band’s perspective on the future?
We all hear the swan song of our civilization coming. By choice or by fatality, the whole of humanity will have to change its way of life. We believe the time has come to think differently. Even if the world has physical boundaries we try to reach the soul of everyone and explore together the endless spiritual dimension. We concentrate our efforts to have the maximum immersion of the audience with the least and lighter material possible on our live shows.
Can you share any behind-the-scenes stories or anecdotes from the recording process of Celestial?
Some of the drums parts on Celestial are insane. The speed is not that high, but there is a multitude of variations and complex polyrhythms involved. Our drummer, Gabriel, had to design himself a year-long training program to study and master the parts before recording them in the studio. You can check out the explanatory video on our YouTube channel: “How our drummer prepared for the recording of our new album… with an excel sheet”!
What are your long-term goals for Mantra, and how does Celestial fit into your vision for the future of the band?
We are already looking forward to a year of defending this project and developing the Celestial live show. We hope that this will enable us to connect with lots of people and play some great gigs. We are slowly getting away from the classical way to play metal music, and we love to melt different musical instruments, codes and art forms, so that is definitely something we will develop in the future. And we’re probably going to try and keep up with new challenges and concepts, because this is what we love, and if possible we will try not take so long to get the next album out, otherwise we’ll be dead before then.
Celestial: Fall is out now; stream/download/purchase from Bandcamp. For more about Mantra, follow the band on Instagram and Facebook.
