The Manikins – Swedish Woods

Sweden are back again in my ears, so many great bands are popping up lately, these are bands I’m sure don’t take all of their inspiration from the obvious like Backyard Babies or Millencolin to name just a few, these are bands that have done it all by themselves and have always been able to stand on their own and look to a wider breadth of musical heroes to give them a unique sound.

And so to The Manikins, a garage punk band that have been in the world since 2000 and Swedish Woods is their sixth album to date.  Is this the bands best yet, well maybe you need to go listen and buy it when it arrives on Nov 17th via Lövely Records, but in the mean time, here are my uneducated scribbles for you to read and see what I thought.

“The Hives”, yes that’s exactly the words that wizzed across my lips when ‘Can’t Give You Up’ kicked in, I suppose if, as the band explains, this album is about going back through history and writing songs based on the pure Rock n Roll that has been there since forever, then a band like The Hives, and them being from your home country, would be such an obvious starting point.  Then we drop into ‘Rosita’ and you start to understand the mentality and direction this album is taking, straight up melodic Rock n Roll with an edge of grunge, but that’s not something that ties this album down to a style and sound, although at it core that’s exactly what you get.  ‘By My Side’ for example slams the psychobilly pedal to the floor, ‘To Cool For The Modern World’ has a sharpness that slices like a razor-blade through the core of New Wave, then the title track ‘Swedish Woods’ gives us a lesson in how to take The Cramps style/sound and make it something all of your own, a track that’s moody, and captivating, yet stands tall above the canopy.

You can tell that this is an album that they have taken pains to be pure and as raw as it deserves to be, the songs are to the point, never over complicated and just full of melodies and riffs that will have you nodding away like one of those dogs you see in the back of some retro cars, but then it also has some ridiculously fucking amazing energy filled screamers that just keep giving, ‘I Need To Tell You’ and ‘Set The World On Fire’ speak fully for this.  As stated at the beginning of this scribble, is this the bands best yet, I’d have to say…. OMFG yes!  Its a fireball of an album that explodes in your ears, takes no longer than it takes to drink a few beers, and leaves you with only one thing left to do, listen more and get hammered.

Pre – Order the Vinyl which is out on 17th November HERE

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