"Go on, do it. Go on". ‘Do I have to?’ "Yes, you do." ‘Oh, ok then’. Look, you know, sometimes I’m a little critical, a tad pissed off with record labels, and pretty much anyone involved in the "industry" except the bands. Ok ok, so I get pissed off with the bands as well. But for all that, I like to think I’ll give credit where it’s due, and here it is. You can imagine my surprise when I got home from work and there’s a package from the States. When I open it up, out tumbles a Fu Manchu CD courtesy of Mammoth Records. I get some labels just ignore anything I send them. Some send you stuff for a while and then it dries up. So how surprised am I when a label in America that I’ve never approached, with a relatively name band like Fu Manchu pick up my contact details from the web zine and decide of their own free will to send something? Answer, very surprised. Also grateful, and prepared to say that this particular instance I’m pleased to be proven wrong. In this instance mind you, it’s not generally applicable. Anyway, let’s hope I like the CD now, cos to be fair the only other Fu Manchu CD that I bought, "Eatin’ Dust" was kind of "yeah, s’ok I supposed" but didn’t give me a punch round the chops like it needed to.

Anyway, this one, 11 tracks, 45 minutes. Opener Hell On Wheels is off to a good start already, there’s a decent tempo to complement the fuzzed out warm guitars. Over The Edge starts out on the back of a rock solid drum beat, and it’s soon joined by a massive guitar sound - that fuzz is booming there.

King of the Road offers up a Sabbath like riff, and it’s at this point that my brain clicks in and connects the fact that "all these lyrics seem to be about ‘the road and my car ... dude’ and the titles all have a vehicle connection and it’s called King Of The Road. Hey, only took me 4 tracks to get there! Must be one of my better days.

No Dice, hmmm, connection? well anyway, more of an AC/DC like groove going on in here - not so keen on that while Blue Tile Fever has almost like a spaced out jam thing going on there. Weird Beard sounds a bit bluesy in the intro, bluesy and retro - one and the same thing? Drive is the best thing on here, showing how good this music can be when they get everything right, pace, riff, hook everything. Great stuff.

Sorry, been a long issue, getting jaded, can’t think of things to say about CDs. This is good, I like it. Nothing new, and that’s why it’s hard to describe. If you like Fu Manchu, you’ll know what this sounds like.

Plus you get a bunch of CDROM stuff, videos and the like, but I’ve not taken a look at them yet, so don’t know what they’re like.

The sticker on the front of the CD says that NME called it a "near perfect record". Personal taste, and I wouldn’t go that far, but it is a damn fine release, that puts to rest my thoughts on the slightly dodgy Eatin’ Dust.

Anyway, weird one this. Normally I tend to just play "well established stuff I like" in the car - it’s just me. But time’s pressing, so I popped this in as I was going to work. And it was like "yeah, it’s ok but there’s nothing special here". A reasonable pass on modern metal, with enough throwbacks to "the good ole days" to keep me interested. But then before I realised it, it had been on in the car for a week and I’d still not reached to put on a different tape. Which kind of suggested to me that I actually like this more than I realise. It really is one of those where asked to describe the song you’ve just heard then you can’t, but still you enjoy it.

Of course the fact that it has no indication on the tape itself of which side is which makes it hard to identify the songs. There’s that familiarity of the current metal scene, but enough twists, different things, nothing original, but it keeps it going. There’s a particularly Metallica Master of Puppets thing going on in one of the tracks in my opinion, and vocally its kept reasonably interesting. There’s also a few hints of Stuck Mojo in places as well, some nice tempo changes and inspite of the sheet screaming comparisons with VOD, Deftones andTool it’s not as blatant as some do. Can’t hear the Tool in there at all though personally.

Yeah a strange one, I can’t really give any meaningful review on it, yet I like it. Never did understand life me.

The 13 track CD is apparently available for £4 + 80p p&p. Cheques to "Greedo".

Overall it’s a decent enough demo. There’s some good things going on musically, just maybe needs something to really hook you in.