Soul Manifest: White Season (2010)
UK based, French trio SOUL MANIFEST was born sometime around 2008, a band uniting under the vision "we wanted to find a path to freedom...". The concrete results of their musical bonding was made available by newly formed Swedish label Night Tripper Records in December 2010, in the shape of the bands first full length effort White Season.
And what the audience is served on this occasion is what would be safe to state is a mixed diet. Not in an eclectic manner however, there's a firm foundation to their endeavours which might best be described as dark toned 70's hard rock. There's occasional flourishes in the direction of acts like Black Sabbath but Soul manifest opts for an expression not quite as doom laden nor massive as that household giant of what way back when was described as heavy metal.
The guitar obviously gets quite a lot of the limelight, albeit just about equally shared with the keyboards in this case. In particular on opening efforts Dead Man and White Season (Part I), which comes across as a meeting between early Black Sabbath and Atomic Rooster in expression. The latter of these the most successful as I regard it, opening effort Dead Man more of an average effort in my perception.
Third track Do We have the Same View is another piece of work entirely, a tasteful and relaxed ballad of sorts with psychedelic vibes, which is followed by the traditional blues rocker Devil's Meeting. White Season (Part II) returns to the gentler psychedelic tinged waters initially, but dipping it's toes into doom-oriented waters just prior to the end. Next up is an energetic excursion 70's hard rock style with All But My Dreams Can Be Erased by the Rain. Until the ragtime piano break in the middle that is, which in my book would have been the perfect manner in which to close this creation. The following return of the initial theme now spiced with a distracting guitar solo didn't go down too well with me.
The Light ends this debut album on a high note, an intricate piece that should have a strong appeal towards those fond of musical fodder of the more sophisticated kind. From the dampened initial theme sporting fluctuating keyboards and the occasional richly textured eruptions supported quite nicely by guitar riffs and intricate drum patterns throughout, the next stage featuring dampened doom-laden riffs sporting evolving psychedelic tinges and a fluctuating space-inspired keyboard motif on top, the gentle dark psychedelia of the dark tribal sounds and female lead vocals in the next part and finally playing out as an energetic 70's hard rock piece supported by keyboards. Almost epic in length, sporting a multitude of themes and a few intermediate stops alongside intricate rhythms and unpredictable development this number should should satisfy most criteria laid down for being regarded as progressive rock. And a rather enticing example of it's kind too I might add.
There's quite a lot of talent and promise at hand in the case of Soul Manifest. Not fully realized at this point, but their first full length effort has enough promising features to warrant a check by those with a taste for 70's oriented hard rock sporting some progressive flourishes, and while only a few pieces are comparable as such I'd suspect that fans of early Atomic Rooster might be something of a key audience for this French trio.
My rating: 69/100
Tracks:
1. Dead Man
2. White Season (Part I)
3. Do We Have the Same View
4. Devil's Meeting
5. White Season (Part II)
6. All But My Dreams Can Be Erased by the Rain
7. The Light
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