Beyond the obvious paradox presented a title like ‘The Return of Tomorrow‘ could have a level of baked-in trauma applied to it, implying a more certain future is ahead as San Clemente, California-based stoner rock quartet FU MANCHU return for album number fourteen. This new horizon still has some of its doomed-ass clouds lingering about as these Orange County heavy rock legends return fortified by their strong sense of self, now carrying two albums worth of all-signature, no filler material to reward the six year wait. Rather than framing their work here as two sides of the same coin I’d characterize this album as an exploration, an experience justified in its indulgence per a full self-examination that sources and represents nearly four decades worth of energy put into their collective. This manifests as the eternal spirit (of the thing they do) embraced first and the still-wandering, contemplative mind second.

Fu Manchu technically formed back in 1985 though they’d spent their first four years as Virulence, a hardcore punk band that’d landed somewhere between the grinding waltz of post-lawsuit Black Flag and the ugly noise of early Melvins. Changing their name circa 1990 meant they were evolving into something new, taking on a shade of doom for a sound that’d probably be viewed as sludge or grunge-punk today on their first EP (‘Kept Between Trees‘, 1990) under the new name. Over the course of the next several years they’d transform into a contemporary of both the early ‘desert rock’ ideation alongside what groups like Trouble and Cathedral were doing in passage toward acid rock/heavy psych inspired sounds. A wave of retro rock revivalism and the whole Palm Desert scene more-or-less occurred in tandem but little of it came to form any broader zeitgeist until the late 90’s, these folks were an original for their time. When I was a kid, around the time of their first LP (‘No One Rides For Free‘, 1994) it wasn’t necessarily sold as “stoner rock” so much as it was a different generation of heavy rock where the Sabbath groove wasn’t as dead (pre-1997) as it seemed and this new sound had bigger, badder pedals to make noise with. You’ll kinda get my take and the timeline if you’ve read my thoughts on Nebula, a band that’d taken most of the Mark II line-up of Fu Manchu after their first three albums hit, as it all kinda walks a certain line from that point. The origin of my interest in “stoner rock” was more-or-less built between the early days of each group.

Consistent in the sense that they’d always been a good time, were prolific from the start with nigh yearly releases, and all the while carrying a distinct personae through all of their work Fu Manchu‘s had their most profound influence upon the stoner rock/metal underground throughout the 90’s, though their stuff was never quite as mainstreamed as anything Kyuss related or Monster Magnet-esque in motion. Their post-millennium work was more about getting out on the road, fast cars theme included, and no longer focused on the doom-leaning side of their stound per the exit of guitarist Eddie Glass but rather higher energy output, big fuzz and driving rhythms. ‘King of the Road‘ (1999) acts as the template for that era when many were discovering their niche via the first Queens Of The Stone Age record(s), you can feel the sound of that era rippling through everything they did through 2009’s ‘Signs of Infinite Power‘ where we’d gotten at least a bit of that Sabbath groove back in their gig; After two major label released records in the late 2000’s the band would regroup and begin the process of self releasing (tons of) past and present material under their own At the Dojo Records imprint. Thus far this more independent venture has dealt less frequent new releases beyond 2010 but here we are with a double album aiming to place a marker, defining the past-and-present Fu Manchu sound on their own terms.

The terms set for ‘The Return of Tomorrow‘ is that it were designed with the double vinyl experience in mind, providing two intentionally distinct halves split between two albums-worth of new songs. The first seven pieces aim for the signature sound of the band… a roll through bluesy, wah-pedal wizarding, doomed and riff-driven songs that feature an outsized use of overdriven fuzz to get their point across. At face value the introduction to this album is the biggest deal as it gives us pure Fu Manchu shocked back up to the crunchy-ass doomed and punkish swing of their early material, a faster paced ride that invokes their early days as much as it isn’t too far a stretch from what they’d done on their 2018 LP, piling the energy up front and letting the headier stuff linger toward the end. Either way those first seven songs suggest they’d been on a roll in terms of lining up this string of buzzing, uptempo riff-built heavy rock songs which’re lead by a distinct and declarative voice but feel energized by taking stock of past accomplishments during the reissue years in-between. That is to suggest a song like “Haze the Hides” hitting the cowbell, the jump of the opening riff on “Loch Ness Wrecking Machine”, and the fuzz punk burn of “(Time Is) Pulling You Under” should all feel referential of the past, giving the impression of a revived and clearly inspired set of sessions feeding the tracklist of this first disc. Those’ll be the most memorable impact and outright heaviest songs for most listeners off the bat.

If you decide to treat ‘The Return of Tomorrow‘ as a ~50 minute record, a single sitting event, the step into the second LP is comparatively mellowed in pace to start as the first three songs hit the brakes and reach for mid-70’s heavy psychedelic/blues rock sleepiness (by way of an early 90’s lens) with “Solar Baptized” and “What I Need” setting the pace for this second album. The slower side of Fu Manchu isn’t a pure jam session, though, as each of these songs justify themselves quickly, getting right to the riff or the hook and ducking out as soon as their impact is made. When reading the description of this record I’d built up the expectation of a bigger jam a la “Il Mostro Atomico” that’d ended ‘Clone of the Universe‘ (2018) though we do get a “Planet Caravan” feeling outro to tie things off; It’d be easy to suggest the big and bustling guitar tones and charger speed of LP1 is the main event here but I don’t think any one piece on either half of ‘The Return of Tomorrow‘ is throwaway, this is either a testament to the luxury of time spent picking out only the best of their efforts or potentially just a virtue of the way they’ve arranged it into two halves which stay in their lane and hold their momentum on the way through.

Per my own ironclad attention span riding through ~fifty minutes of Fu Manchu on repeat is a pleasure, an especially fine afternoon with with a big guitar tone, and some well-nurtured gift for anyone interested in blues-stung doom punk songcraft. The sound design goes a long way to sell it, of course, and getting that guitar tone exactly right in every case is a rare high-level wizard’s feat but ultimately the point to make is that this’ll be a crowd pleaser for longtime fans looking for maximum impact per an abundance of signature sounds from the long-standing group. Without the context, existing fandom, and all that at the very least you’ll get a sense for where these folks have been and where they’re still headed within the duration of ‘The Return of Tomorrow‘. I could probably pick much deeper at each song and pry loose a few favorites (“Roads of the Lowly”, “Dehumanize”) but along the way I’d found the standard set was remarkably uniform and rarely trite in choosing what to present next. Again, nostalgia + longtime fandom are a well and clear bias here though I’d felt this whole deal was worthy of a high recommendation in any context.

---