Heavy Manic Souls is the eponymously titled debut album by French quartet (Chris Francheteau/Guitar, Eric Robin/bass, Rod Chaillou/Drums, Eric Dufour/Vocals) that is dripping with obvious influences, ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Ray Vaughan, from Gary Moore to Robert Johnston, each track purposely un-formulaic in order to showcase the song writing ability and musical talent of the band.

‘Heads or Tails’ and ‘Change Your Reality’ are up-tempo tracks, whilst ‘Lone Star State’ and ‘Escape From Earth’ are slower, smokier, bluesier offerings. ‘Juggernaut’ and ‘Heavy Foot Coolhand’ stray perilously close to the hard rock end of the spectrum, whilst ‘Cigarettes’ and ‘Rollerball’ doff the cap to the Seattle sound of the 90’s. ‘Uncle Pirate Blues’ is out-and-out roots blues, whilst ‘Down In The Rain’ is a pretty nondescript instrumental that adds little to the album as a whole.

If there is a criticism, it’s that the vocal style of Eric Dufour is a little strained at times – in particular on ‘Rollerball’ - and that the lyrics are indistinct In places, partly due to the French accent and partly due to delivery. That said, this is still a solid, enjoyable 11 track offering from a burgeoning talent that will certainly grace my headphones on at least a semi-regular basis in the future.

                    01 Change The Reality

                    02 Juggernaut

                    03 The Lone Star State

                    04 Rollerball

                    05 Cigarette

                    06 Heads Or tails

                    07 Escape From Earth

                    08 Down In The Rain

                    09 Badass Mother******

                    10 Uncle Pirate Blues

                    11 Heavy Foot Coolhand