The rolling stoners...
Stoner Skate-Punkers Fu Manchu return with their new album 'We Must Obey', on the back of a successful tour which will see them on the road playing virtually every night from now up until they end in Britain in early June. Whenever you hear one of their songs the sound is instantly recognisable, and this has always been one of the bands strengths.
First song and title track, 'We Must Obey' starts off with ferocious guitars that have their signature fuzzy sound, and mixes up the laid back vocals and chugging guitars of Stoner Rock, with the frenzy and rawness of Punk. Some bands change their sound with music trends, or try to experiment whilst not ever finding out what their best sound is – Fu Manchu are not one of these bands. 'Knew It All Alone' chugs by, whilst 'Let Me Out' is classic Fu Manchu and reminds me of their album, 'The Action Is Go' which was released 10 years ago. 'Let Me Out' starts off slowly, before building up over some thick badass riffs, and the addition of shouting choruses making it something memorable.
It's hard to review Fu Manchu without mentioning bands like Kyuss and Queens Of The Stone Age, however this is only because they are the nearest sound to the band, although you could also add The Offspring if you fuzzed up some of their less commercial songs. 'Hung Out To Dry' is another example of this, and one of the best songs on here, showing once again why people are mumbling about these lads from San Clemente in California. 'Shake It Loose' has riffs that have been stolen from the 70's, and is one of those for everyone who owns their own air guitar!
'Land Of Giants' is slower with thumping drums, but there are no acoustic guitars here, as it's still a song with balls bigger than King Kong. 'Between The Lines' is a little more Punk and is a slice of listening pleasure, whilst, 'Lesson' sees the band at it's most experimental with slow verses that comprise of bass lines and drums, and a lack of fuzzy guitar riff until the first chorus. It builds up into a more layered and complex song.
The sound gets a little darker in 'Moving In Stereo' and there's even a slight touch of Black Sabbath here. 'Didn't Really Try' has Punk riffs and could almost border on Screamo, if you fuzzy-it-up! Last song, 'Sensei vs Sensei' has some Hawaiian style slide guitar in a gentle and moving song, that suddenly explodes into the big riffs, and plod along that you'd expect – it's a good ending to a good album.
'We Must Obey' does more than it says on the tin. You have the big fuzzy riffs and the catchy stoner-rock tunes that you'd expect, but with songs like the great 'Let Me Out', and the gentler mellow moments of 'Land Of Giants' and 'Sensei vs Sensei' you get so much more. If you have heard Fu Manchu before then 'We Must Obey' will probably not change your mind about whatever you feel about the band. L.A.Weekly once said that they were 'as purely Californian as anything Brian Wilson (of Beach Boys fame) ever recorded', which may be a little exaggerated, however I always have a picture of 70's skateboarders, with a life soundtrack made up of concrete ramps and sunshine when I hear them, so who knows?