22 Oct 2017 // A review by Made2Fade
Manon Peak, pronounced 'Main-on Peak’ is a musical project formed by Ben Ruegg. The concept of Manon Peak is collaboration. Ben has always found writing with other artists, exciting and rewarding.
With the debut album
Focused, Ben was able to record a song with longtime collaborator, Sio Andrews. Also, Ben invited more guests to his album including Daniella Kriek, Royce Dawson and Sophie Hamer.
They describe musical influences like
Shihad, Breaking Benjamin and Incubus, though there's a lot more you can hear underneath like
The Feelers, R.E.M,
Midnight Youth, Garbage, Filter, Pink Floyd and The Foo Fighters.
This punches into there first track
Isolation, with an anthem driven kick drum, and thick crunch on the guitars.
There are many great tracks on this album that will leave you humming them unknowingly, believe me!
Into The Wild has a bouncy and infectious groove that makes you want to get back to nature and find yourself.
Possible with beautiful vocal harmonies and an uplifting message about not giving up, this track has a reminiscence of Filter’s
Take A Picture. I guarantee you will have this on repeat a lot.
Focused - Part One takes you straight back to the days of R.E.M’s
Monster and
Automatic For The People. A Dirty Alt-Rock sound with soft sorrow filled vocals.
Young Adult, such a beautiful but simple song. Heartfelt, tender and true. This is probably my favourite song from this album.
Altogether,
Focused is a very well written, recorded and produced, collaborative album. There's a little bit of something in there for everyone. I think it's worth buying.
Review written by Karl Wootton