Records by the group Maniac, first song starts off with a beat that for a few seconds had me enjoying the tempo. There’s a certain catchy rhythm to the percussions being used in the opening beats of “Pride of Lions” but then the vocals kicks in and the song is ruined. Between the poor sound mixing on this song there’s also the sound of the vocals, the lack of any solid lyrics, and if there is a meaning to the song it was lost on me. Whoever did the sound mixing on this song must have forgot that people actually like to hear the vocals on a song when they’re there because these vocal levels are too low. I had the volume on my radio turned up as loud as I could withstand it and the instrumentals were drowning out the vocals. It was almost like they weren’t there or wasn’t cared about enough to be given a louder volume.
Thinking that this might just be a fluke with the first song, granted a bad one considering the first song sets the tempo of the album, the second song “Hoodoo” was no improvement. Though the levels on the vocals were louder than the first song I was actually preferring them to be back down low. The majority of the songs lyrics are just sounds like whooo ahhh being done over and over again. It was so annoying that when I listened to the song a second time I had to turn down the volume. With each song that continued to play my feelings for this group went further and further down.
I don’t know if Maniac is trying to be a boy band, it sounds like it with some of the songs tempos, beats, and how the members vocals seem to try to be in sync with each other. But then they sound like they are trying to be alternative or maybe indie rock with the beats and the odd lyrics or it’s quite possible a little of both. In either case the formula don’t work for any of the songs. None of the songs were fun to listen to, I could kind of hear that they were trying to put some energy in the songs but they just don’t have it. If it wasn’t for the vocals the songs would have been much better. The instruments are played in catchy rhythms that when being heard alone could make me tap my foot while they played but because those moments only lasts for a few seconds the songs vocals took away any enjoyment. Also, as a last note, having the name of the album being Maniac Records was somewhat annoying while trying to do a search for it. What came up during my search was actual record companies and other bands but not the actual album Records by Maniac, no matter how I put it in the search.