FU MANCHU: DAREDEVIL

Fu Manchu are a band I've written a few posts about here before, I know. The thing is, they are such a great, solid, retro 1970's metal band that continues to put out always enjoyable material. Today I want to talk about what is their strongest, most energetic full length album, in my opinion. It is 1995's "Daredevil". This is Fu Manchu at their finest. The guitars are not so fuzzed out and low-ended as on "Godzilla's (Eatin Dust)", and not as straight ahead, overwhelming, beyond Kyuss- heavy, balls to the wall stoner metal as on "The Action Is Go". 'Daredevil" is pure, raw, ingenius, high octane, classic 1970's psych metal with a fuzzed out punk tinge. This is the album where Fu Manchu was really coming into focus. It is like a witches brew of The Stooges, Black Sabbath, Black Flag, and touches of Hawkwind all at their finest moments. The songs are relentless, the most energetic Fu Manchu ever, loaded with classic touches of spaciness. One reason for this is that the two founding members of the mindbending, euphoric retro/space/psych rock band Nebula played on this album. They were Eddie Glass on guitar and Ruben Romano on drums. After "Daredevil", they would split to form Nebula. Arguably, Nebula's output over the years has been much stronger than Fu Manchu's, but that's for another day. What else to say here...the lyrics are at their peak...sometimes unintelligible, warped, drug induced tales that always entertain. Every track is great. Play it loud, annoy, the neighbors, and long live Fu Manchu! I wonder if they are working on a new album...

FU MANCHU: "THE ACTION IS GO"

Fu Manchu's "The Action Is Go''(1997). A heavy, fuzzed out desert/stoner metal masterpiece. This is easily Fu Manchu's heaviest and one of their strongest recorded efforts to date. With ex-Kyuss member Brant Bjork on drums, there are some similarities to the sun-drenched desert metal of Kyuss, but they take that sound much further and make into something completely their own. Blending the gargantuan riffery of Black Sabbath with the euphoria and energy of The Stooges and a touch of space rock, Fu Manchu hits you hard with a barrage of stoned-out head banging riffs that only let up to let you catch a glimpse of the void of space before pummeling you again. The production of White Zombie guitarist Jay Yuenger is is very guitar heavy, clear yet fuzzed out at the same time. The dry vocal delivery of Scott Hill takes a few listens to get used to, but it s hard to imagine anyone else in his place. The drug induced lyrics are great and don't make much sense at times, but they aren't really supposed to. The songs range from full on metal assault ("Evil Eye"), to heavy trippiness("Grendel, Snowman"), to sprawling spaciness("Saturn III" and "Strolling Astronomer"). All in all, "The Action Is Go" is my personal favorite Fu Manchu album, and my favorite stoner rock album of all time next to Kyuss's "Sky Valley".

Here's "Evil Eye"....


...and here's "Trackside Hoax".

Trackside Hoax - Fu Manchu