King Of The Road

King Of The Road

Cars, motorcycles, vans, choppers, and bongs--it's easy to see where Fu Manchu find their inspiration, and it's clear this isn't cerebral rock. These boys, who hail from the synapse-frying heat of the California desert, go for the gut. They have the riffage to do it, sounding part Stooges circa <i>Metallic K.O.</i>, part Black Sabbath, part stoned teenage garage band. Singer Scott Hill shrieks like a psychopathic Ted Nugent and his guitar emits fuzzed-out, grooved-up slabs of thunder--with lightning. The drums and bass are heavy but never fast; when they crank up the intensity the pace slows even further: volume is job one. "Hell on Wheels" starts with the throbbing guitar and slowly morphs into a deadly thunderous roar. "No Dice" finds its lyrical inspiration from the Jeff Spicoli character in <I>Fast Times at Ridgemont High</I> ("No shoes, no shirt, no dice!"). And "Weird Beard" is pure THC-inspired giggling lunacy--with a backbeat. All in all, <I>King of the Road</I> is an unadulterated blast of an album that reminds the teenage boy within why you fell in love with rock in the first place. <I>--Tod Nelson</I>