Manic Drive

Canadian rockers Manic Drive descend from the frozen North to attempt some musical global warming by serving up their particular brand of hot rock & roll, mixed with elements of progressive power-pop, dance beats, and even a bit of electronica. This is a band that does a little bit of everything, from CCM ballads to pop-metal, all with enough musical proficiency to earn your admiration, if not your heart.

Manic Drive tries to become “all things to all people” on their new project, Blue. After a short synth-string intro, the opening track, “Music,” becomes a hard-driving, hooky dance-metal introduction to the band, featuring staccato drumming, funky bass breaks and an interesting descending piano/bass riff. The vocals live somewhere between pop and arena-rock, and cap off the sound creating a commercially viable formula that the group seems to be able to produce at will. Taking the edge off of the song, are self-referential lyrics, like, “Step aside, ‘cause tonight we’re gonna’ feel alive/With the drums and bass pumping by my side/Take all the rock and roll, there’s one thing I can’t hide/So witness as we move this nationwide.” Somehow, the ‘we’re gonna’ rock the house’ type of posturing doesn’t seem to be where this band should be headed, lyrically.

Somewhat of a publicist’s dream, Manic Drive, consisting of Shawn Cavallo (keyboards, vocals, string programming), Michael Cavallo (guitar), and Anthony Moreino (drums), look on the cover of Blue like they could beat up the Jonas Brothers if they wanted to (points for guys) but are too good-looking to want to really get into a down and dirty fight (points for the girls).

I’m not quite sure exactly what demographic Manic Blue fits into. These guys can obviously play, and they can do a variety of styles, and do them well. It’s a strength that also is their weakness.

“Closer,” and “Rain,” are Christian Radio-friendly songs. The band goes Euro-pop with “Walls.” “Dancefloor,” with its obtuse and perhaps confusing lyrics, is the album’s most obvious dance/club track. We get some heavy pop/metal on the unfortunately-titled, “NYC Gangsters,” which features the awkward and less than convincing lyrics, “Follow me, my misfits – and leave this world behind/As we ride like New York City gangsters/Lighting it up as we drop the bomb.”

In other words, Blue is all over the place stylistically, which begs the question: where’s the dividing line between having a variety of styles and not having a musical focus? While many bands can pull of a wide range of stylistic devices on a project, the range of styles usually is contributing to a specific group identity. I’m afraid, after listening to Blue, I’m still not exactly sure who Manic Drive really is.

Ah, but there are some clues!

Manic Drive seems to be telling us who they really are on a few specific tracks that seem to reveal a band identity. The title track itself is an indie-flavored pop track with a driving beat and hooky bridge that seems to show what the band can do best, musically. “Hope” is a serious outward-looking song that features some nice chord changes and a more socially-conscious point of view than the songs preceding it. “Better Man,” and the dark closing track, “Change,” seem to indicate that Manic Drive becomes more authentic when they stop trying to please the largest common denominator of listeners and concentrate on writing more personal songs. Even “December Mourning,” a slightly clichéd idea (a grieving Christmas Eve) is given an interesting arrangement, creative use of “Carol of the Bells,” and an effective over-all performance.

Manic Drive is a band capable of going in any of several different directions, and Blue is like a sampler of what they’re capable of. It should be interesting to see if they continue next time on a road less-travelled or one safely paved…..

Tagged as: Blue, Manic Drive

↓ 2 comments

#1 Greg on August 17th, 2009 at 8:18 pm

“musical global warming,” nice Bert : )

#2 Me on August 19th, 2009 at 5:34 pm

Liked the bit about beating up the Jonas Bros.

Good review.

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