Revisiting Mantissa’s Mossy God

By BRIAN GIFFIN

AT the very beginning of the 90s there were few rock bands on the local scene generating as much buzz as Killing Time – the band later known as Mantissa – their sudden rise almost as spectacular as their almost-complete disappearance only a few years later.

A strong live following drawn to their funkified metallic stance led to an actual bidding war landed Killing Time, as they were then known, on Red Eye Records. It was the era when Jane’s Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith No More were beginning to break through and perhaps the local industry, with a rare flash of insight for one that had long exhibited a weak stomach for anything remotely left-of-centre or heavy metal, figured they might need a local alternative, especially when their first EP shifted enough to get it into the national Top 20.

Not that Killing Time were overtly like any one of those bands, but musically they inhabited the same ballpark. Adam Pringle sang with a beefy, dramatic tenor and Nina Grant’s funky rumbling bass lines were overlaid with chunky groove riffs and mystical, psychedelic melodies from guitarists Chris Paine and Jed Starr. Better still, their songs had an appeal that crossed over to a wide audience, something that had attracted label attention in the first place, and their second EP release Dream Alone made #23 on the singles chart. Soon after, with Syd Green now on drums following the departure of Tubby Wadsworth and Chris Collins replacing Starr, the band headed to the US to record with Terry Date, a hot name after working on the two most recent albums by both Pantera and Soundgarden. With two other bands also sharing their name, however, Killing Time became Mantissa, inspired by John Fowles’ allegorical 1982 novel about the nature of artistic creativity.

Mossy God arrived in October 1992, hitting the market precisely when bands of their ilk were dominating the rock charts. A national tour with Red Hot Chili Peppers was followed by a massive nine months’ touring in the US and they opened for Pantera on that band’s huge ‘94 Australian campaign. By rights, Mantissa should have been enormous. Instead, they virtually disappeared. An artistic departure from Mossy God, their 1995 follow-up Thirst was all but ignored and Mantissa was done less than a year later. By the end of the decade, under the torrent of Australia’s burgeoning alternative and indie rock explosion, their CDs already out of print, Mantissa were all but forgotten.

Thirty years on, Mantissa’s Mossy God has risen again. Presented in an immaculate double-gatefold sleeve, boutique label Rizz Records has licensed this moment in Australian rock history for an exclusive vinyl-only 30th anniversary package. Including not only the album itself but also Killing Time tracks and 1994’s Inter-Alia EP, this release is a complete showcase of the broad scope of Mantissa’s creativity. Spinning it now, it’s really no wonder they were a big deal at the time. Musically, they were an almost perfect Australian embodiment of the rock zeitgeist: “Mary Mary”’s dark grooves and heavy riffing contrasted with Pringle’s soulful vocals to slot right in alongside Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. The funkier, deceptively upbeat outlook and jangling bass of “Staying Clean” suggest comparisons to the Chilis. “Dream Alone” and “Land of the Living” are funkified hard rock swagger. “Kryptica” and “Electric Sharman” explore more expansive, experimental proclivities showing the band had a lot more to offer had they been allowed to continue. That fate had other things in store for Mantissa is unfortunate, but at least now it’s possible to finally revisit the music of a band that was, so briefly, one of Australia’s most exciting acts.

ORDER “MOSSY GOD” FROM HERE.