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FU MANCHU "The Action is Go"
Mammoth records, released: 1997
The dirtheads from Northern California kick out the jams and unleash a Stoner Rock classic. The offspring of BLUE CHEER and BLACK SABBATH discover punk rock energy and start the World's Heaviest Garage Band and beat the shit out of TED NUGENT in a dark alley ("Stranglehold" era) and all the songs are about muscle cars, bigfoot, and UFO's. These guys have the coolest, most distorted guitar sound of all time. Do you know what a guitar amp sounds like turned all the way up, when one of the speakers is torn? That should give you some idea of the crushing power these guys wield. They appropriate stale 70's metal elements like cowbells and wah wah and make them seem like THE most vital, happening thing RIGHT NOW.
 
On this, their fourth album, the young lads have finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together and presented an album of heavy, well-constructed songs. (Have I mentioned heavy?) Previous albums, two of which were on Bong Load records, delivered the heavy riffs but sometimes felt sort of thrown together. Not so anymore. "The Action is Go" has songs that make sense, with dynamics and hooks and a more evolved sense of construction. This release marks the debut of two new members, Bob Balch on lead guitar, and Brant Bjork on drums (formerly with the band KYUSS). Produced by WHITE ZOMBIE guitarist Jay Yuenger, the album concludes with a killer cover of S.S. DECONTROL 's "Nothing Done". I was lucky enough to catch these guys live, and half expected to see a slick, polished show with choreographed posing etc. I was surprised to see that they were completely unpretentious young guys who are just trying to play heavy rock and roll the best way they know how (hence the title World's Heaviest Garage Band). Their audience seems to include a lot of skaters and snowboarders: they're on this summer's WARPED tour with bands like BAD RELIGION, and on some Extreme Sports compilation lp. By the way, they've released a couple of limited edition singles with killer cover versions of "Chevy Van"(!) and "Godzilla". Dirtheads, let your Freak Flags fly!
[KENNY 2000 8/11/98]