- by Ash McConnell
- Monday, January 24, 2005
Fu Manchu share similarities with two particular bands (Deep Purple and Rage Against The Machine) without being as good as either. Yet their music is still good in its own right. It’s short (just over 35 minutes) and sharp and the tunes are full of energy and slick guitar riffs. The vocals take longer to get used to. Scott Hill’s voice at first sounds like it doesn’t fit with the music (particularly on 'I Cant Hear You'), but the further the album progresses, the more this feeling is lost. It might be because I keep expecting Zach De la Rocha to break into each song, that Hill’s voice sounds so strange.Unfortunately, the influences Fu Manchu clearly have are of such stature that they can’t measure up, but this isn’t really a bad thing. There is nothing wrong with trying to be Deep Purple and not quite managing. It’s a hell of a lot better than trying to be someone much more mediocre and succeeding. And the traces of Deep Purple are everywhere, 'Understand' begins in a way which makes you think they might just break into 'Woman From Tokyo' any second. The Rage Against The Machine element shines out in 'Hey' more than any other track, but sadly there is little of the political influence which made RATM’s music so compelling. 'Out To Sea' has an Eric Clapton ring to it which is also no bad thing.
You could do a lot worse than Fu Manchu’s 'Start The Machine'; it’s exciting, totally listenable, and pretty good for bouncing around to. It’s probably the best metal album released this year so far, and on the strength of its influences alone, is well worth a listen.
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