The Damage Manual "The Damage Manual" Invisible Records INV 169 2000 (68:57)
King
Mob (6:50)
Age of Urges (4:33)
Top Ten Severed (4:29)
The
Peepshow Ghosts (4:57)
Sunset Gun (303 Edit) (3:03)
Stateless
(Delusional Mix) (5:37)
Expand (4:41)
Denial (5:49)
Broadcasting (6:26)
Sunset Gun (Fully Monty Sunny Orb Up Mix) (5:16)
Blame and Demand (Wobble/Laswell Hybrid Edit) (5:29)
Damage Addict (Laswell Mix) (5:14)
Stateless (Laswell Mix) (6:33)
The Damage Manual is: Chris Connelly - vocals, Jah Wobble - bass, Geordie Walker - guitar, Martin Atkins - drums and loops with Lee Fraser - synths and tweaks.
This is the debut self titled album by The Damage Manual,
following up the debut "1" EP from this past April, due out September 5th.
The band's output, not surprisingly, draws heavily upon the collective
input of the lengthy, intertwining resumes of it's four members - Chris
Connelly (Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Murder Inc., etc.), Jah Wobble (Public
Image Ltd., numerous solo and collaborative projects), Geordie Walker (Killing
Joke, Murder Inc.) and Martin Atkins (Ministry, Pigface, Murder Inc., etc.).
A neatly packaged dream come true for many fans of punk/post-punk and modern
'industrial' rock. "King Mob" and "Denial" do it slow and hard with
PiL "Metal Box" era slow bass lines and schrapnel guitar, thunderous beats
and Connelly's half spoken/half sung and sexy smooth crooner vocals, respectively.
"Age of Urges", "Sunset Gun" and "Stateless" explode with guitars and beats
while Connelly resurrects his Revco primal screams, especially on the latter
one. "Top Ten Severed", an observation on the sad state of affairs
in the world of music, alternates between lush, quiet sections and heavy
guitar driven sections. "The Peepshow Ghosts", which was originally
a solo Connelly love song, is now an even sexier, rockin' love song.
"Expand" and "Broadcasting", both fairly tedious, really remind me of the
more experimental drum and vocal driven PiL of the early '80s. Some
violin, saxophone, sitar, vinyl scratches and drum loops appear here and
there, as well as synth work by Lee "Bagman" Fraser of Sheep on Drugs,
but almost as an afterthought when compared to what the main members are
doing. There are too many hands at the mixing desk for the album's
9 main tracks (Bill Laswell, Atkins, Walker and engineer Jason McNinch)
which makes for a strange sounding album as Laswell's mixes are heavy on
the bass and the others moreso on the guitar. Laswell, The Orb and
Jah Wobble also man the desks on the final 4 tracks, which are simply overkill
remixes of album and EP tracks, all of which are good but none better than
the originals. "The Damage Manual" isn't perfect, but it's a fine
debut and makes good on what the hype promised. The bottom line is
this: these guys might be in their mid '30s to early '40s but don't
put them out to pasture just yet. They still want to rock and they
still do rock. I can't wait to be pounded
by this live. A U.S. tour will hopefully commence
this fall ...
The Damage Manual
at Invisible Records
The Damage Manual
Where did I get this cd? - promo via Invisible Records.