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Manfish

What Is This Manfish?

Written by: PP on 26/09/2012 22:33:38

Manfish are a punk rock band from Finland with a garage-ish and lo-fi approach to their songwriting. I'm not sure that's on purpose, however, because based on the overall impression of their debut album "What Is This Manfish?", everything feels rather amateurish and unfinished in more than just a couple of ways. It wouldn't be wrong to say that pretty much the only thing this record has going for it is a funny (in a weird way) title.

Starting with the vocals, let's just say that they definitely live up to the punk myth that you don't need to know how to play your instruments to play punk rock. They are monotonous, never catchy, and always boring, and more often than not, annoying. The guitars provide no relief either, since the melodies aren't well-developed nor interesting, which is a prerequisite if you want to play punk rock in 2012. It isn't the 70s any longer, folks, which seems to be where Manfish are sourcing their inspiration from. Well that, and the absolutely horrific stuff that NOFX used to write in the 80s before they realized that perhaps the more hardcore-infused punk isn't the way to go for them.

In all honesty, Manfish are still at a stage as a band and as songwriters that they should probably spend a couple of years more in their rehearsal space before releasing anything else to the public. "What Is This Manfish?" is the kind of album that goes directly to the trash can for most people after listening to just the first song on the record. Avoid.

Download: Die Hippie
For the fans of: Misfits, old school NOFX, 70s punk
Listen: Bandcamp

Release date 01.12.2011
Self-Released