Album Review by Mark Bayross
I’ll resist temptation to make any more smart aleck remarks about the incongruous girlieness of Manchild’s name – they chose it, so I guess they’ll have to make the most of it. The fact that they chose this moniker, however ill-advised it may be, on account of one half of the Welsh duo, Brett Parker’s, Herbie Hancock fascination, is swiftly forgotten a few seconds into the opening track. ROCKIN’ THE PLACE does just that – a hi-octane techno slamfest that recalls the Prodigy at their most belligerent.
UNTIED STATES (très clever, messieurs…) comes after four singles, all of them hinting at different musical facets of the band’s sound. And sure enough, these different styles are all pretty much present and correct across the album’s 54 minutes. We have bass-heavy dub trance (LET ME TELL YOU), funked-up hard house (HARD WAX) and quasi-industrial rap (THE BACKDOOR PAYOFF), all served with a generous helping of thumping beats and killer hooks.
The obligatory guest slots are well-filled too. Therapy?’s Andy Cairns lends his sleaze-metal snarl to REHAB, creating a satisfyingly meaty techno-metal crossover, while the claustrophobic trip-hop of SOMETHIN’ IN MY SYSTEM, with Sadat X’s soporific rap accompanied by Massive Attack-style strings, is almost the total opposite. The Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones also makes an appearance, lending his Rod Stewart holler to THE CLICHES ARE TRUE.
It’s not all menacing moods and thrash metal, however. RETURN TO THE DRAGON sounds like the theme to the 70s Bruce Lee TV cop show that never was, all wah-wah guitars, funky beats and kung-fu samples, while WE SHARE THE SAME KOOL evokes The Prodigy’s “3 Kilos”, even employing the same weed-induced flute sound.
The album ends with the orchestral drum and bass of NEW LONDON, an elegiac soundtrack to a late-night glide through the city’s neon-lit streets. It’s a solid way to round off a superb album. Given that this is Manchild’s debut effort, we can expect to see a lot more of them in the future.
Yes, this album does owe a fair amount to Liam Howlett and pals, especially MUSIC FOR THE JILTED GENERATION, but it was about time someone had the balls to try and fill in for them in their absence.
