Manes - How the World Came to an End

I never did and never will do drugs.

With some of the music I get in my mailbox, this is a disadvantage.

Take for example ‘How the World Came to an End’ by Norwegians Manes. Their music combines noise, dance and a touch of goth feel. Metal it isn’t, although it almost qualifies in some parts (most notably in the beginning of the opening track, Deeprooted), which, in a way, is alright.

If any of you remember Tricky’s quite extraordinary album ‘Maxinquave’ from 1994, then the best comparison I can come up with for the feel conjured up on ‘How the World Came to an End’ is to the post-industrial trip-hop gloom on said album – only with a slightly noisier and harder edge.

When you bump into bands like this, you always wonder if they’re just a bunch of artsy-fartsy tossers who are weird and dark just for the sake of being that, or if what they do really stems from a divine inspiration and the gut. I have no doubt in this case that they mean it. ‘How the World Came to an End’ is dark, brooding and depressing, and could surely steer weak-minded, drugged teenagers over the proverbial edge.

However, for an old cynic like me, the album is for the most part boring and contains material that is best classified as ‘heard before’.

Recommended if you have a bad day and want to make it worse.