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Most stoner rock aficionados don't ask for much--solid, dirty riffs and bass lines, heavy groove--and Fu Manchu normally give that to them. On their tenth album the band channel most of their creative efforts into the riffs, as usual. Everything else is typically minimalistic: the song structures and melodies, Scott Hill's benignly punky vocals, the verbally simplistic, homogenous choruses. While not as heavy and fuzzy as their early recordings (although the main riff of "Hung Out to Dry" comes close), We Must Obey may be a little catchier than Start the Machine and is less laid-back than California Crossing. The pissed-off tone makes this album suitable for more than just cruising idly in one's car, but doesn't come across very convincingly. The repetition of "let me out" at the end of the song of that name, for example, is reminiscent of the "lions and tigers and bears, oh my" chant in The Wizard of Oz, Hill's gradually escalating "intensity" on a par with Dorothy and company's and just as mature. Joining "Let Me Out" as one of the album's weaker tracks is the uninspired cover of The Cars's "Moving in Stereo." Overall, though, most fans will find We Must Obey satisfying. As stoner muzak craftsmen, Fu Manchu are good at what they do. But anyone wanting something less disposable should look elsewhere.
| Tracklist |
| 1. We Must Obey |
| 2. Knew It All Along |
| 3. Let Me Out |
| 4. Hung Out To Dry |
| 5. Shake It Loose |
| 6. Land Of Giants |
| 7. Between The Lines |
| 8. Lesson |
| 9. Moving In Stereo |
| 10. Didn't Really Try |
| 11. Sensei vs. Sensei |
: 36.29
| Buy other Fu Manchu albums |
