November is Doom- Exhuming the Tunes with Trouble's "Manic Frustration"

 

The 92 follow-up to their self-titled classic was hard to measure, and it deserves to be given a fair chance, as they were moving into the grunge era of music, finding this batch of songs less metallic and taking on a more organic rock feel. There is a great deal of groove to the album opener.  In ' 92, I wanted it to be more metal, as I was more into death metal. "Scuse Me" is more aggressive, but maringally less metal than the previous album. The middle section in this song is more intersting. It makes me wonder if they were trying to go in a more Guns N ' Roses-like direction. 

"the Sleeper' does kick into a heavier punch from the guitars, with the drums driving it more. It's the way it chugs that brings it back to metal. Not their doomiest moment of the album thus far. "Fear" is the first more deliberate moment that flirts with doom. The vocals have more effects on them on this album. This also happens to be where they are really doing more drugs.  It is still working for me, song-wise, so I am not complaining... yet. The very tight midrange guitar tone is very 90s. Then comes "Rain," which is a more mainstream rock ballad. I do like when he goes into his lower register. It balances out the mood here so it is not so bright. It's a pretty simple arrangement. 

They come back harder for " Tragedy Man.", His vocals sit bakc more against the guitar here, and harmony vocals surface more than I remember them using in the past here. Lyrically, it is one of the better moments. The hardest thing they have going for them here is competing against the previous album, though I remember this one being received pretty well. "Memory's Garden" almost makes me think of old Scorpions. The title track works off the groove of the previous song.  It has a more blues-based rock n roll feel, with the punch of the riffs. As a song, it gets more jammy in places when the guitar solos come. Yet it does not quite match the level of songwriting we have heard to this point. 

Without a doubt, "Hello Strawberry Skies" is the strongest song on the album. His voice is dialed in, and it has a darker pulse to the guitars. "Mr White" is another pretty solid song, as his voice clicks just right with the guitars. The vocals sit back against the guitars on this one too, but it still allows the feel of the song to shine through. The album closes with "Breathe," which is a surreal ballad that is darker, making it stand out from the rest of the album. It would say only 20 percent of this album is doom, but the songwriting still works even in this more straightforward direction so I will round it up to a 10.