Review Summary: something of a mixed bag that ultimately evens out to be a decent listening experience
Coming off the rather nebulous Please Come Home… Mr. Bulbous, Manic Moonlight feels like a compromise of sorts. There are some lingering experimental quirks, mostly with the prominent use of drum loops and the generally understated performances throughout, but the band is largely back to sounding more like themselves. The songwriting returns to linear structuring and the band members’ personalities shining through lets it feel much more like a proper King’s X album compared to its predecessor.
Unfortunately, Manic Moonlight may also be one of the more pedestrian King’s X efforts. Songs like the opening “Believe” and “The Other Side” are driven by serviceable grooves and simple hooks, but they can also come with a rather made-to-order vibe that can make them a little too casual for their own good. It’s especially egregious on “Yeah,” which is about as formlessly lazy as its title would suggest. Thankfully “False Alarm” balances it out with a particularly poignant trip into somber alt rock territory.
But while the drum loops tend to be mere window dressing for most of the album, the most interesting moments tend to be when the band leans on them. “Static” is a major curveball, sounding almost like a Nine Inch Nails pastiche with its pulsating electronics and bottom-heavy chugs that punctuate the disillusioned vocals. “Skeptical Winds” and “Vegetable also stand out for applying their beats to more funk-oriented approaches, the former featuring disorienting but catchy instrumentation and spoken word while the latter compounds a loose but hard-hitting rhythm.
Overall, Manic Moonlight is something of a mixed bag that ultimately evens out to be a decent listening experience. While it is one of the more readily forgettable King’s X installments, it has a bit more going on sonically than Tape Head and its experimental tendencies are more coherent than those on Bulbous. I find myself wishing they had committed more to the electronic elements, but the album would’ve benefitted the most from more engaging hooks. It’s the sort of album that may endear itself to listeners who can stick it out for multiple listeners, but it’s hard to imagine who would hold out for that beyond the biggest diehards.
