CoC : Manorblatz - Flying for Phoenix : Review

Manorblatz - _Flying for Phoenix_
by: David Rocher (2 out of 5)

Try as I might, my attention merely fails to be allured by the four death metal tracks on this Breton act's first demo CD. While they are not ultimately bad, and appear to be technically proficient, Manorblatz simply lack the sparkle and professional attitude that will likely get a label to cast an attentive ear on them. The general syndrome which Manorblatz seem to be suffering from is that, akin to the opener track "Reduced to Ash", their material features some good individual riffs and only decent vocals (somewhat reminiscent of Loudblast's Stephane Buriez), but is in turn reduced to not much more than ash by an overtly loud drum machine, a blatantly uncanny song structure and rather pointless guitar leads. Manorblatz in fact seem to want to cram that bit too much of everything under the sun into their metal, and thus end up inconsistently running around all over the place without actually getting anywhere. However, on a more positive note, there is capacity for improvement here, so I can only hope Manorblatz will use that for a forthcoming release. The four tracks on this MCD will soon be re-released on a split CD with German black metallers Nachtmahr, so that may be the chance to check both these bands out in one session, if you care to.

Contact: Charles Castrec, 17 square Auguste Dupouy, 35700 Rennes,

(article published 14/1/2002)