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Artist: Fantasist |
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Hot on the heals of their triumphant set at last years S.O.S. Festival
Manchester Funk Metallers Fantasist have signed to Rocksector Records
for their debut release ‘Giggle Juice’. The band impressed us on the
live stage at last years S.O.S. festival and really brought the day to life
with their onstage antics and power driven funk. The trio are Ollie, Seb
and Robb and bring forth that rarest of traits to the music world originality
and this felt in spades on this new release. Big rhythms built around a soaring old school guitar sound, hinting at
The Chilli Peppers with a touch of The Queens Of The Stoneage
experimentation thrown in for good measure. From the opener ‘X’s and O’s’ there is a dark groove that really
sets the cat amongst the pigeons as the mix of Stoner and Funk Metal
unite in a unholy alliance that somehow works. The deep grooved bass
lines really get their hooks into you, you can just feel yourself
swaying along like some kind of out of body experience, that gives you a
hunger for more. And your hunger is soon satisfied as things continue with ‘See-Thru’,
a more upbeat tempo about this one but still keeping that unique
quality that was felt with the opener. Again chunky bass rhythms bring
out that Chili’s feel. The infectious grooves come thick and fast with the big-riffed
‘Darkness’, the chunky modern rockers ‘Time To Leave’ and
darker ‘The Truth’, before the tempo is picked up with the Talking
Heads tones of ‘Mistakes’. But where the band really excel is when they put the fun in funky with
‘The Divide’. A real rich groove runs throughout this one and that’s
what I remember about the band at S.O.S. last year. It was the fun element
in the music that really got the crowd going and this one has all that and
more. The band bring the big guns on the excellent ‘Ego’, this more that
infectious groove mixed with a great guitar sound, a real multi-faceted
mix of soul groove and traditional hard rock. Things take a more darker edge with aptly titled ‘The Void’, yes the
grooves are there but it's the haunting twang guitar that will even have
Derek Acorah looking behind him. It's back to that hard edged Talking
Head vibe with a touch of old school stoner rock vibe for the ‘The
Sleeper’ and the bass ridden ‘Smokescreen’, before the album closes
with ‘Private Lives’. Again another twist on the Funk Metal vibe,
this one starts off slowly and builds into a massive thumping rock
spectacle that wraps up an album that is as fresh and it is new, from a band that
defy the norm and demonstrate that imagination is the road to artistic
fulfillment. And if you want to see how this band performs on the big
stage then get down to Radcliffe Civic Hall for S.O.S. 2011, grab yourself a
pint of 'Giggle Juice' from the bar and get down the front because these guys
really are something to behold live. |
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Tracklisting: 1. X's And O's |
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All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated. |
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