_p.png)
Brooklyn's own Manic Pixi have released their much anticipated debut studio effort titled "Sugar Bomb!". The disc is a raw, no holds barred effort of a group who put everything they can possibly muster out there for the audience to see, and are completely unadulterated in terms of raw sexuality and sheer musical genius that comes forward in a thunderous way heard here.
We start things off with "Sweet Tooth" a hard rocking, Paramore styled number with the thunderous lead vocals of Kat Hamilton adding a great deal of intrigue and cleverness to a well thought out track here. Drummer Emmett Ceglia contributes a great deal (including his sexy, sweaty shirtless self) to an album that has a upward trajectory to it. "Hangover" is my favorite song off the album featuring indelible guitar riffs brought to us by Marshall Biever, and the collective musicality of everyone involved to a deliver a qulaity number that evokes the sexy, stunning beings they are. "Suddenly Stuck" pumps it up to 11 with a frenetic, ear piercing joyride with Kat singing her heart off and delivering a blistering number that continues the band's quest for musical greatness that is in the process of being fulfiled. "I'm Still Fighting" tones it down a bit with some low key guitar melodies and Kat's vocals reaching a level of beauty never before dreamed of, and makes you appreciate the band's musical diversity even more.
The second half begins with the edgy "Kiss Me", a pulsating, driven number that shows off the band's unadulterated sexuality that rises to the brim and is just waiting for a certain push to set it off in a blazing deluge directly onto you. "Meteor Shower" starts off with a neat drum beat from Emmett that begins to wrap up the album on a downtempo note that gives us a breather from the uptempo numbers we've heard in succession one after another. "Blue Wine" ends it all here with a track that connects the dots from the prior tracks, and connects the pieces as we learn to correlate how everything translates musically and how the band has evolved throughout the course of the record to where we are right now. I've been obsessed with these guys going back to early this year when they were an Artist Spotlight feature, and they set something off inside of me that has since gone unextinguished to this day, and has brought to mind a band that isn't afraid to show their true colors as to who they are as human beings, and makes you feel comfortable whenever you're around them where you can just let loose, have fun, and just be yourself.
In retrospect, an amazing debut effort from Manic Pixi, a band that have no regrets about who they are and are just comfortable in being the sleek, sophisticated musicians they are ready to take a charge at what lays ahead.
Album Score: 4/5
Track Listing:
Sweet Tooth
You Can't Kill Me
Hangover
Suddenly Stuck
I'm Still Fighting
Under Your Spell
Tongue Tunnel
Kiss Me
Meteor Shower
Lions Cage
Blue Wine