Alien Ant Farm

One might think they know Alien Ant Farm. Far from it. Almost a decade after their last album "Always And Forever" (2014), the alternative metal quartet from Southern California – singer Dryden Mitchell, guitarist Terry Corso, bassist Timmy P, and drummer Mike Cosgrove – returns with "~mAntras~". An album that not only shatters all prejudices about the band but also impressively catapults them back into the center of the music world.

The sixth studio album of the band, founded in 1996, is marked by personal changes and maturation processes, representing a kind of new beginning for a band of such longevity – without denying the past. On the contrary: "~mAntras~" is a profound, reflective work born out of numerous hardships and trials. The songs take the listener on a personal and spiritual journey, as the title suggests, not just a musical one.

After such a long hiatus without new material, Alien Ant Farm had a lot to catch up on. In fact, they had already recorded four songs years earlier – including the Wham! cover "Everything She wAnts," released in 2020 – but then the pandemic brought everything to a halt.

"When the song came out back then," Mitchell recounts, "the idea was to just keep pushing forward. But life got in the way. We had disputes with our producer, and I personally was drinking a lot and just unhappy with my life. It might sound dramatic, but I felt like I needed to figure things out on my own first. Usually, in such phases, you rely on friends, but being in a band is a bit like being in a marriage. I don't know exactly what bothered me; I don't want to blame the band, but I just needed some distance to get back on my feet. If I'm not good for myself, I'm not good for anyone else. So we took a break – and in hindsight, that was the best decision because we came back so much stronger with a clear head. We just had to hit the reset button."

"A lot of shit happened during those years," Corso adds. "We had great success early on and are fortunately still here. The band has experienced extreme setbacks, and this album is the result – basically the soundtrack to that."

Since their breakthrough in 2001 with "Movies" and the legendary Michael Jackson cover "Smooth Criminal," Alien Ant Farm has gone through a lot, but the time between "Always And Forever" and "~mAntras~" was particularly tough. It's no wonder that much of that is reflected in the eleven songs.

"Growing up, divorce, children, family, death, band breaks, bus accidents, surgeries, illnesses, recovery – everything is in this album," says Corso. "It is literally the product of all the damn shit, both good and bad, that we've gone through."

All of this has been channeled into the most confident and self-assured album in the band's history ("From shit grow the most beautiful flowers," jokes Mitchell). After the false start, they seamlessly continued as soon as they were ready – and suddenly found themselves full of energy and inspiration. Older, wiser, and no longer trying to please the music industry, they were finally able to be 100% themselves on this album.

They kept the four previously recorded songs ("The Wrong Things," "Storms Over," "What Am I Doing?" and the Wham! cover) and produced the remaining seven tracks themselves in drummer Cosgrove's home studio.

"Not having to go to L.A. was great," says Mitchell. "Sure, it's fun to drop everything and record an album somewhere else – we've done that often enough. But just working at home in a familiar environment with people you feel comfortable with meant a lot to us."

You can hear that comfort in the songs. Right from the opener "The Wrong Things," with its hypnotic, sensual groove and a mix of emotional lyrical anxiety and psychedelic instrumental tapestries, it shows: This is an album that lives up to its title – a series of mantras that reach deep into the soul and simultaneously want to tear it apart. Just listen to "Last dAntz" (much more painful than the title suggests) or the infectious self-flagellation piece "So Cold" with its fascinating prog-rock influences.

Prog is indeed one of the most defining influences of this album – and yes, the band owns it.

"For a band that covered 'Smooth Criminal,' we are actually a pretty crazy prog act," laughs Mitchell. "If you dig a little deeper into just a few songs, some really good stuff comes to light."

"Longevity is now our luxury," says Corso. "It gives us the freedom to do all the things we want to do. We can pursue our prog inclinations and move musically in ways that feel good to us – without chasing any trends."

You can hear that freedom everywhere: in the catchy arena rock of "No. 1," in the reggae-infused soul pain of "What Am I Doing?," in the airy, melancholic acoustic number "Glasses," or in the freshly polished Wham! cover. "~mAntras~" stands for true artistic freedom, for shedding expectations, and for the resurgence of a tight-knit group of friends who have gone through thick and thin together – and now stand stronger than ever nearly ten years later.

All of this culminates in the title track. As the name promises, "~mAntras~" is a constantly evolving mantra that captures not only the spirit of the album but also condenses almost three decades of band history into one song.

"When I wrote the song, I thought: What if we just pack the entire band history into three minutes?" Mitchell recounts. "It was a huge amount of fun and very emotional at the same time. In the end, I was crying while recording. I slightly altered the melodies of the old songs, but there are easily 20 older Alien Ant Farm songs in there. That was really cool."

"It was also really therapeutic," says Cosgrove, "just like mantras are supposed to be in a spiritual sense. On this album, we healed across the board."

"We knew we had to heal," Corso adds, "but we had no idea how far we could go. And where we are now is just great – we are firing on all four cylinders, everyone is motivated, happy, and ready to finally bring this music out into the world."