Music has become more important than ever. For this reason, the triumphant return from Amaranthe is particularly convenient. Over the past decade, the six-person Swedish band has established itself as an impressive, positive and fervent melodic force for metallic well-being. Manifesto was recorded in Denmark with his longtime collaborator Jacob Hansen and is an album with a variety of moods and textures, of immense power and aggression and exquisite beauty. This kind of mixing different elements has always been part of AMARANTHE's ethos, but on their sixth album the band shows an enhanced sense of lyrical and conceptual substance. Olof and Elize have truly blossomed with songs that touch everything from the impending climate catastrophe to theistic mythology as commentators of the trials and tribulations of humanity. These are exciting, meticulously crafted future metal anthems built specifically to burst heads, but which are underpinned by a deep sense of humanity and emotional honesty. Like the pre-release single Do Or Die - which was released on Valentine's Day this year and features the legendary Angela Gossow - Manifest is a record that owes as much to the real world as to fantasy and loss of reality.