PLAN 9 – Manmade Monster

Presenting the band, that once was a tribute to the legendary Misfits and now their true successors with originals, Plan 9 from Oakland, California. The boys united in 1997 as a tribute band to the Misfits under the sign of classic Heavy Punk Rock. Several years later, since their rise in popularity, the band began writing original pieces with the influences of early Danzig and his Misfits era. In 2004 they released their debut LP, 8 Hits From Hell under the label, Pure And Proud Records. Later they signed in Nickel And Dime Records and this year they arrive with their second album, Manmade Monster which gets its release here.

The music of the album and the production itself, virtually, continue the works of the Misfits from years ago with simple, fast and catchy tunes and choruses. For all the fans of the Misfits and the mighty Glenn Danzig this release is a treat. The vocals by the “Danzigish” Baron Blood are amazingly similar to the 70’s and 80’s Danzig with that straight forward, barely emotional, voice. Wulfenstein, the lead guitarist, is playing basic Punk Rock riffs with a fine ability. He also presents a couple of nice simple, Punk oriented, guitar solos. The same goes for the bass player, Scary, and drummer, Madlike Ghoul, who most of the time only keeps the pace right. Both of them present basic Punk Rock rhythms with not too many changes.

This release is very nice but not very original and somewhat repetitive. Although most of the Punk Rock bands play simple and basic material, here it sounds almost the same on many tracks. The same goes for the song and chorus structures. For example, the dialog between the Baron and his band in choruses repeats itself again and again which makes the songs a bit similar to one another, for example, in some parts of “Archangel” and “Devil’s Advocate”. The drumming throughout is the same with that snare / one or two beats rhythm with no changes which can become boring.

Despite the repetition, this album has some killer tracks that should be noticed. It starts off with a simple heavy, blow away, “Intro” that reminds a bit of the Punk Rock group Pennywise .The rhythm itself is almost pure Heavy Metal. There are some songs that are musically Pennywise such as “Undead” and “She Never Sleeps”. The best track of the album, “War Of The Worlds”, has a catchy chorus and pure Punk Rock in the Danzig way. Second best is the following, “13 Shades Of Black”, which continues in the same vain. “Teenager From Mars – We Bite” is a pretty funny song with a lot of nonsense, but has a great change of pace in the end of it with the “We Bite” line. “Blood”, “Manmade Monster” and “Black Dragon” joins in as solid catchy tracks.

Plan 9 shows Punk fans and the music world that true 80s and 70s is still alive and draws breathe in the 21st century. Manmade Monster proves that in many ways. But, this band can uplift their material and produce something more musically original aside from the fact that on this album, and the previous one, they wrote new music and lyrics of their own. The influences of the Misfits should stay but the band has to give some elements of their own because they are not a tribute band anymore and their contribution to Punk Rock world will be, potentially, greater.

Lineup

Baron Blood – Vocals
Wulfenstein – Guitars
Scary – Bass
Madlike Ghoul – Drums