Manntis was the band that should have won the Battle of Ozzfest series from a few years back. They were the best there and are actually a good metalcore band that, dare I say, have talent and sound better than the 'core's drones of generic bands. It's the fact that they don't follow the same chugging style and have some nice guitar work that makes them stand out. They have some nice riffs by Adair and there are some really good breakdowns. There really is only two haunting problems on the album.

First, this isn't a hardcore album, it's a metalcore album. And last time I checked, metalcore albums don't have songs that run two-and-a-half minutes and have breakdowns 90 seconds in. The songs are way too short; if they lengthened the breakdowns and verses, this easily could have made it a much better release. Songs like "Axe of Redemption" would have easily benefitted from longer verses, a longer breakdown, and time for more riffs to be played out by the two guitarists. But at Sleep in Your Grave's current length, it's just too quick of an album to really make an impact considering the style.

Second, this is going to confuse people as it is not a new album. Sleep in Your Grave was independently released and Century Media is merely re-releasing it. So with that said, it gives me a lot of hope that they can focus on writing longer songs that showcase their worthy guitar licks and breakdowns. I also liked their acoustic track, "The End is Where It Begins," which is a nice surprise for a band of their style.

When Manntis gets more to write music and strengthen their already solid songwriting and musicianship, they will obviously be on the top lines of the metalcore genre because they have the potential to be a great band that can stand out. Sleep In Your Grave is a solid, worthy debut whose only pitfall is its short length at 28 minutes.