Mansun Six Epic

No, not that Manson.

This Mansum is a fourpiece from Chester, England, who scored a poppy little hit in the US a few years ago with "Wide Open Space."

With their new album Six, they're here to leave a wide open space where your mind used to be. About halfway through Six, you get the feeling the joke is on you--and Mansun is laughing.

On "Fallout," bits and pieces of Tchaickovsky's "Nutcracker" bubble up through a heavy synth and guitar layer, nearly become unlistenable, and are then blown away by a cascading guitar solo as the claustraphobia of the early song gets ripped to shreds. In the epic "Cancer," the "chorus" of the song makes one brilliant but brief appearance in the nine minute song.

Mansun sets itself apart from most art-rock by occasionally throwing the listener a life preserver. "Negative" is a slicing, biting rock stomp and "Legacy" clears the air with its crisp and tender crescendos. Overall, it's a godless, fearless, overblown and manipulative stab at the center of your music consciousness. Listening to Six, at first, is a battle. In the end, the fight makes and album even more rewarding.