THE DAMAGE MANUAL
1 (Invisible Records)
Reviewed by Holly Day

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The great luxury of having built a solid reputation for yourself in the world of music is that along the way of doing so, you usually end up being surrounded by other pretty amazing musicians, people that'll come over and jam with you anytime you want. This is how bands like The Damage Manual get started: A) Martin Atkins, ex-Ministry/Killing Joke/etc. producer/engineer/percussionist on over 50 influential albums invites B) Jah Wobble, ex-PiL bassist extraordinaire to come and lay down some tracks in his studio in London, and C) ex-Ministry/Revolting Cocks vocalist Chris Connelly and D) ex-Killing Joke guitarist Geordie Walker decide to come down for the weekend and hang out as well. This is a simplistic explanation of how the Damage Manual - a band that didn't even have a name until most of the first EP was done - got started, but it's pretty close to the truth. The result? An amazing mishmash of sound that draws heavily on the musical histories of everyone involved; Geordie Walker's trademark guitar feedback winds in and out of these songs like an amplified Slinky, while Wobble's basslines remind one of what made PiL once so great. Connelly finally gets to explore his range as a vocalist in this, screaming, speaking, and singing his gospel of damage, subversion and violence through a set list punctuated by Atkins' powerhouse drumming. Beats the hell out of any other Saturday afternoon jam session in the world.

© 2001 - Holly Day