For almost thirty years, Danish band Manticora, spearheaded by Lars and Kristian Larsen on vocals and guitars respectively, have defied categorisation. On practically every album, one can hear elements from one genre here and traces of another sub-genre there, until it all comes together to make a Manticora album. Twenty-five years on from their full-length debut, "Roots Of Eternity," the group continues to surprise and subvert expectations, as is the case for their new album, "Mycelium."

The album gets underway with a short intro, "Winter Solstice," which begins with a dark orchestral piece, but soon becomes a much heavier affair that leads very nicely into the first full song, "Necropolitans." It's a bit of a messy affair, with the aforementioned genre-bending bent to breaking point, but nonetheless, it's a solid song to get the record moving. The next song, "Demonday," could be described the same way, albeit with a little bit more structure to it, sounding like a well-polished black metal track, with more than a dash of King Diamond to it.

When it comes to the stand-out tracks, "Beast Of The Fall" would almost certainly be the clear favourite. While offering variation like the songs before it, it's overall an exhilarating firestorm of unadulterated metal music that really captures the thrill we listeners of all things heavy look for. Though there's good stuff before it, "Beast Of The Fall" elevates the whole record, as soon Manticora offers everything from a piano interlude which is as symphonic as it is reminiscent of slow jazz, to a pendulum that swings between black and power metal in the form of "Mementopolis." Finally, "Mycelium" closes strongly with, "Dia De Los Muertos," which is very much from the darker side of power metal, a la Iced Earth.

As mentioned though, the album doesn't really get much momentum until the seventh track and the patchy, at times jumbled formats on offer before it can become dull, frustrating, or at worst, annoying. "Golem Sapians" was the song that best fit that last description, though it's something of a struggle to pinpoint why. The high vocals seem quite out of place on this one, to the point where the listener may well be silently begging Larsen to try a different approach, though the song isn't all bad, with the guitar solo being a highlight. This after three songs which, as discussed, do offer some intriguing moments but fail to live up to the high standard the band has set themselves, can make one wonder if they'll get much out of "Mycelium."

Taken as a whole, it's an album with some really good moments, but maybe too disjointed to be a really good album. It's decent for sure, and long-time Manticora fans will probably enjoy this entry, but it won't stand out as their finest hour, with most of the songs ultimately being quite forgettable. That being said, I wouldn't discourage any metal fan from listening to this album, as there's enough variation here that it'll catch the ear of some genre fans or those who want to hear something a little different. Manticora are well worth your time, but it might better to try another album of theirs before giving this one a spin.