THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA
DISCOGRAPHY
ALBUMS
Trust No Leaders
July 1, 2022
Second studio album by The Chronicles of Manimal and Samara, released worldwide on July 1, 2022. Recorded between April and August 2021 in London, United Kingdom, the album's 11 tracks weave a journey through heavy metal history — from its roots in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, up to the contemporary.
Set against orchestral and cinematic soundscapes, the songs also pay tribute to non-Western musical traditions, including Native American and South American folk music, Vedic chants, and Indo-Persian classical music, with lyricall forms and vocal performance that bring together elements from contemporary poetry, Persian Classical poetry, theology, Jungian Psychology, and modern theater.
Elaborating on what initially inspired the record, the duo shared, “We wrote Trust No Leaders over the last national lockdown in the UK which forced us to take a deep look at the current and grim state of affairs. The increasing chaos and uncertainty in the world fuelled the early creative direction of the album. The pandemic, the destruction of the natural world, new wars, rising prices, protests and uprisings, political upheaval and freak natural disasters that were happening around us provided the backdrop for writing Trust No Leaders."
"The album is a personal journey that steered us through the anxiety of these trying and scary times while also preparing the future and what it has in store for all of us, living in a world where our leaders cannot be trusted.” —The Chronicles of Manimal and Samara
'Trust No Leaders' Tracklisting
1. Human Sacrifice
2. The Prophet
3. Pound of Flesh
4. Shaman
5. The Chefs Song
6. The Pied Piper
7. Nothing but Dust
8. Count the Dead
9. Smell of Your Rot
10. Hypermetamorphosis
11. Scum of the Land
CD, Digital Download
Buy
Full Spectrum
Released February 26, 2021
Comprising 11 tracks lasting over 67 minutes long, Full Spectrum was recorded between February and June of 2020 when Daphne Ang (Singapore) and Andrea Papi (Italy) came together as The Chronicles of Manimal and Samara to compose and produce their debut album at their home studio during the first London Lockdown. The album goes from progressive rock to techno, from metal to ambient and electronic, and back to rock, melded with the band's signature style ‘poetry performance’. The songs are arranged in a way that it takes listeners through the Full Spectrum of human experience and emotion. Each is a complete experience on its own, while also building upon the meaning and message presented in the previous.
Full Spectrum traverses dystopian and utopian worlds, and balances grim reminders of human mortality with triumphant moments of hope and individual agency, moving beyond the harsh realities of the modern world into the sphere of the transcendent and the numinous.
'Full Spectrum' Tracklsting
1. Atoms
2. Psychopath's Monologue
3. Deus Ex Machina
4. Mata Hari
5. The Descent
6. Message for the King
7. Love in the Time of Pestilence
8. Tcomas S01 E01
9. Full Spectrum
10. At The Worlds End
11. The Great News
SINGLES
POUND OF FLESH
July 1, 2022
From The Chronicles of Manimal and Samara's sophomore album, Trust No Leaders. ‘Pound of Flesh’ was released on July 1, 2022, alongside the album as it’s focus single and music video.
Taken from William Shakespeare’s play, Merchant of Venice, the term ‘Pound of Flesh’ refers to something that is owed that needs to be paid back at every cost – revenge. This song is concerned with the vicious cycle of suffering and conflict caused especially by wars and institutionalised vengeance.
SHAMAN
May 20, 2022
'Shaman’ is a journey of self discovery into the depths of one's psyche. Guided by Jungian psychology, ‘Shaman’ captures a personal confrontation with the unconscious in which one experiences the infinite and the energy of the universe. The song introduces the idea that human fulfillment can only be attained by bringing the contents of our unconscious mind into consciousness, thereby uniting our conscious life with our inner worlds.
THE CHEFS SONG
April 1, 2022
A satirical vaudeville that dramatises the pressures of working in a busy kitchen, “The Chef Song” exposes the inhospitable and exploitative working conditions in the hospitality sector. What the theatrical comedy of the song belies is a tragedy that plagues our modern societies — the prevalence of modern slavery in the 21st century.
“The Chef Song” - Single Cover Art
Image Source: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
NOTHING BUT DUST
February 11, 2022
‘Nothing but Dust’ addresses the theme of modern man’s search for his soul. It revisits the ancient practice of desert hermitage as a means to confront and enrich one’s soul. The lyrics recall the sounds and semantics of the poems of the 13th c. Persian mystic, Rumi, while the music has Arabian influences. In this increasingly material world we live in, the song, to quote Jung, finds solace in the ‘desert of one's soul’ – through poetry and metal.