Seems unfair to come to your first disappointing album this early in the year but it has to happen sometime….

It’s not that Manticore is a bad album but compared to the previous Shovels & Rope releases it is a bit of a let-down.

There are too many downbeat, almost pedestrian songs and it lacks the spit and sawdust feel of earlier albums. It’s almost like a polished AOR version of the band that you can chill out to at the end of a long day rather than the rowdy Americana they have previously treated us to.

On the upside the rollicking Domino which opens the album may be the best three minutes the band have committed to tape. It barrels along at a pace the rest of the album can only dream of and I dare you to sit still whilst it on.

The fantastic vocal harmonies are still there but I think I will need some evidence of a return to their bar room roots before I consider the next Shovels & Rope album