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FU MANCHU
The Return Of Tomorrow
At The Dojo Records

I've often heard people complain about today's music. Specifically all the 'sub-genres' of Metal. I am one of the minority I guess that is actually thankful that those labels exist. It definitely takes out a lot of the legwork in wasting valuable time weeding out bands that play genres of music that I know I'm never going to like. One genre that I do happen to really love is 'Stoner' or 'Desert Rock'. Fuzzed out chords, SABBATH heavy riffs, and long drawn out jams, is kind of a throwback to 70's 'acid' rock as my Pops used to call it while yelling at me to turn that shit down. Of course there's always those that come before the rest. And those came from the Palm Desert Scene, which started from Palm Desert, California, hence the name. Starting out in the desert, playing parties using gas-powered generators for power. Other fuel allegedly came from beer, weed & other mind altering drugs that expanded and shaped the sound of bands like KYUSS and MONDO GENERATOR.

Before joining the fuzzed out fray, FU started out as a hardcore punk band called VIRULENCE in 1985 in Orange County, Cali. In 1990, they changed their name to FU MANCHU and changed musical direction as well. FU has had several members as bands decades old are prone to do, and at one time featured Eddie Glass, Mark Abshire & Ruben Romano. They all left to form another Stoner Rock band called NEBULA. But that's another story for another day.

FU as of this writing has released twelve albums throughout the years, and that segues nicely into the release of lucky #13's album, The Return Of Tomorrow. An adventurous double-album set by the boys, it will have 7 fuzzed out heavy songs in one album, while having 6 (mellow) tracks on the other. Depending on your mood, you can base your listening pleasure off of either or naturally you can blast both and get the best of both worlds. While I don't normally advocate the loss of hearing, there's just something about cranking out the fuzzed out sounds of lead single "Hands Of The Zodiac", or the distorted riffage of "Loch Ness Wrecking Machine" that sounds otherworldly at extreme volumes. But beware, FU will surprise you with their tightness and melody. Oh, I'd be absolutely remiss if I didn't mention these merry minstrels of the sacred fuzz. Driving the FU MANCHU Camaro through the nether regions of space and time is lead vocalist and guitarist Scott Hill. His merry crew consists of bassist Brad Davis, lead guitarist Bob Balch and drummer Scott Reeder. FU has been stable with this lineup since 2001. Other highlights/favorites are the doom crushing riffage of "Roads Of The Lonely", and the uptempo "(Time Is) Pulling You Under". And as for the 'mellow' 6, FU's idea of mellow would probably blast the brains out of the average hair rock loser. "Lifetime Waiting" is a multi-faceted track with plenty of tempo changes, the synth-tinged "Solar Baptized" is a heavy, spacey banger and the album closer and instrumental "High Tide" which is a distant cousin to BLACK SABBATH's "Planet Caravan".

If you're under the mistaken impression that bands like FU MANCHU are one-trick ponies that don't have songwriting chops or that they just rehash SABBATH riffs over & over while singing about being high, let me dispel that foolhearted notion for you here and now. Or better yet, hit up YouTube or something similar and check out the mighty FU and see what you've been missing. Definitely check out their mind-altering covers of BLUE OYSTER CULT's "Godzilla", FOGHAT's "Slow Ride" or THIN LIZZY's "Jailbreak". And for the full metal jacket experience, please play LOUD.

And yes Broomhilda, FU MANCHU are taking orders now for the limited Vinyl version of this new opus. Quantities are limited so buy or cry.

4.8 Out Of 5.0 Skulls☠️☠️☠️☠️