Released By : Tuupa Records
Genre : Heavy Rock
Links : http://www.myspace.com/manzanaband
Tracklist :
1. Stay Away From My Universe
2. Everything But You
3. Good Times On The Run
4. Mother Can’t Rock
5. Killer Baby
6. Evil Inside
7. Pretty Little Partner In Crime
8. Demolition Doll
9. Speed Up the Train
I must admit that up until I received this album for reviewing I had never heard of MANZANA. Upon doing some research I discovered that they are actually a bit of a big deal in their home land of Finland, and have actually had two previous releases which both had songs that made it into the Finnish charts at some stage or another. I also discovered that they are best known as a pop-rock band with a bit of a rebellious nature and a slightly harder edge than most other pop-rock style combos. That is actually a pretty decent description of what you can expect to hear on the new album INDUSTRIAL HIPPIES and while I can’t recommend it to fans of the band because I have nothing else of theirs to compare it to, I can recommend it to anybody that enjoys some harmless ear-friendly rock music with a bit of cheekiness thrown in too.
MANZANA have a great little sound going on here on this album and musically everything is well produced and well played if not a little simplistic at times. Female vocalist Piritta Lumous is a rare commodity these days in the fact that she doesn’t try and pretty up her vocals, she’s just a straight ahead rock vocalist that sounds a nit like Gwen Stefani with a frog in her throat, but I mean that in a good way.
DEMOLITION DOLL is a great little rock tune that has some neo-prog keyboard work mixed in with some radio friendly catchy hard rock. MOTHER CAN’T ROCK takes a bit of different approach and sounds a bit like a harder rockin’ version of NO DOUBT and features some great lyrics. Other highlights come in EVERYTHING BUT YOU, KILLER BABY and PRETTY LITTLE PARTNER IN CRIME.
It’s nice to listen to some female fronted rock music that isn’t pretentious or fake like most of it is these days, and if you like the sort of stuff NO DOUBT did in the early days before they turned in to a shameful dance band, MANZANA may well just be right up your alley.
Written By ZeeZee
Rating : 7/10
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