Hailing from London, UK we have a newer Hard Rock band called THE MANIC SHINE. I've never found it so hard to categorize a band. I had a brief listen to their previous releases and they seem to chop up their sounds and influences, and change their style every few songs. They even list their influences as "literally everything audible" which really doesn't really make it every easy to put into a category.

This album starts off with a bit of a catch, but not in a "holy shit this is phenomenal" way. It's more of a "why do I have this stuck in my head?" kind of way. The first few songs on the album do not hit it off with me in the slightest. They have a certain Pop-Rock tone to them, almost reminding me of NICKELBACK. After a few listens, it becomes evident that the only reason these few songs are catchy is their constant repetition words, very radio Pop-esque form of them. I find it hard to actually like their songs when absolutely nothing sticks out to me, apart from the odd mediocre guitar "solo" (if you can call it that)

As I draw to a close on my first listen of the album, I am beginning to completely lose hope in this album by the tie we get to the track "Binary". At this point, as this track begins, I feel as though I'm listening to another band. It's the shining star of the album, every band member seemed to have upped their game for this track. There's emotion and passion in the vocals, there's some technical talent and funk in the drums and guitar and it's really enjoyable to listen to. But, alas all good things must come to an end.

I really and truly tried to like this album, but I couldn't. The vocals often sounded out of tune, and over and over again lacking emotion. It lacks a lot of things, not only emotion; power, attitude, passion and it seems like everyone was only giving 80% and it's frustrating to listen to at times. This album definitely won't have me rushing out to buy it any time soon.<