CD: Heavy Manic Souls

We seem to be spreading our wings here, French band Heavy Manic Souls have recently sent us a copy of their eponymous debut album, which is an 11 track blues fused heavy to classic rock which may prove hard for them to top! Now I would not have considered France to be a source of hard rocking guitar riffs, but I am happy to be proven wrong. And this album proves it without a shadow of doubt.

Opening with “Change The Reality” you can tell where the album is heading. With a distinct full sound they know their stuff, with the solid riffs, great bass lines, and punchy drums, the have produced a formidable body of work to start their catalogue.

As the album progresses the tempo drops for “Down In The Rain”, it’s the most laid back track on the album. Opening and closing the track is the ambient sound of rain, this is an instrumental track, and almost, for a very brief second, reminds me of Albatross. Followed by “Badass”, which turns the tempo back up, with a more Southern sounding, twangy metal guitar work. Followed by the exceptionally bluesy “Uncle Pirate Blues” – I guess the clue was in the title!

“Heavy Manic Souls” is solid sounding, rocking album, that ranges from classic rock, through to the blues end of the spectrum. All the while maintaining a great rich sound.

If hard rocking sounds with a bluesy influence is your thing then you could do a lot worse than buy this album!

Availble via links on their MySpace page, or their website.

Line Up
Chris Francheteau (guitar)
Eric Robin (bass)
Eric Dufour (vocals)
Rod Chaillou (drums)

Track listing
Change The Reality
Juggernaut (Fury Road)
The Lone Star State Song
Rollerball
Cigarette
Heads Or Tails
Escape From Earth
Down In The Rain
Badass Motherfucker
Uncle Pirate Blues
Heavy Foot, Cool Hand

Words by Jon.