MANTICORA is a progressive metal band from Copenhagen, Denmark formed in 1997 by Lars Larsen (vocals), Kristian Larsen (guitars) and Mads Volf (drums). In the early days the band was a foursome with Rene (bass) as the last member. They recorded a MCD "Dead End Solution" which led the band to sign with Intomental Management and signed their first record deal with Greek record label Black Lotus in 1998.
The same year the band added an extra guitarist, Flemming, and a keyboardist, Jeppe to the line-up. They released their debut album "Roots Of Eternity" in the summer of 1999.
In 2000, the band signed with the Italian label Scarlet Records and released their second album "Darkness With Tales To Tell.
In 2001, Rene (bass) decided to leave the band to focus on his family and was replaced with Kasper Gram. The same year, Flemming left the band and was replaced by Martin Arendal.
In the fall of 2002, they released their third studio album "Hyperion" which was an epic concept album based on the award winning sci-fi novel, "The Hyperion Cantos" by Dan Simmons. They embarked on a European tour in the spring of 2003 and started writing for their next studio album early in 2004.
Their fourth studio album "8 Deadly Sins" was recorded in March/April of 2004 in Jailhouse Studios with producer Tommy Hansen (HELLOWEEN, PRETTY MAIDS, HATESPHERE, TNT, to name a few).
In early 2005, the band toured throughout Europe with ANGRA and EDENBRIDGE. During this time they were joined with session-guitarist Stefan Johansson and Swedish keyboardist Andreas Lindahl and made their first US appearance at the ProgPower Festival in Atlanta, GA.
Martin Arendal returned to the band and they went into the studio to record their fifth studio album, the first of a two album concept, "The Black Circus" which deals with the horror story of a travelling circus in the 19th century New England. The lyrics are written as letters from the main character to another person. After a mini-European tour with ANDROMEDA, the band went back to the studio and recorded "The Black Circus Part 2" with the help of new permanent keyboard player Ronni Clasen.
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