Future Old People Are Wizards - M (2016) Hi-Res

Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium. After the very fine debut 'Faux Paw' we still have a lot to say about Ghent's Future Old People Are Wizards (or FOPAW). A solid concert in Trix then settled the matter. And now the trio is back with 'M', a mysterious but equally ambitious record.

Not that much has changed now. At least, until you notice that they said goodbye to former drummer Piet Dirickx and recruited a new one. The powerhouse trio currently consists of newcomer Sylvester Vanborn (Wallace Vanborn) on drums, percussion and piano, old faithful Stijn Vanmarsenille (Drums Are For Parades, Maya's Moving Castle, Waldorf, Elefant) on guitars, synths and vocals, and secret weapon Nele Van Gussem (Maya's Moving Castle,..) on synths, bass synth, piano and vocals.

As usual, this trio rocks their way through the musical cosmos and mainly indulges in wonderfully expanding synth grooves. In short: solid food that sometimes tends to stoner and metal (but with barbs instead of the faded glory of Metallica) supplemented with a flashy touch. A trio that also clearly uses the finest form of humor, as can also be seen in 'M', which unleashes eight pleasantly insane songs in just over half an hour.

Man With Bricks is the single made of granite and guitar riffs and that is just one of the many alphamale variants that appear. That single seems a bit unwieldy, slow and half-soft at first, but halfway through a heavy sledgehammer of a guitar riff suddenly pops up, supplemented with a psychedelic sound.

Strangely enough, despite all the hints at masculinity, 'M' is mainly an album that could do very well with women. But Future Old People Are Wizards can't be caught for hardcore pussy, but they are lovers of the better, all-intoxicating rock romance. The nice thing is that despite everything this trio still has a very poppy and catchy sound, so it doesn't take that long before FOPAW hits like a contagious virus.

Just like its illustrious predecessor, the band knows how to impress, albeit not with the better comfort of going total loss (remember the pounding Undo The Redo's or the creepy freaky Teenage Hospital). No, this time the collective is a little more subtle, although the experimental stoner rock remains as a house of trust.

Man With Fuzz, for example, opens with slow, heavily exaggerated synth sounds where you have to think of the smoke yourself, but after a minute, heavy guitars (with funky undertones) make the entrance and the listener is held in its grip. Also during Man With Attitude, this trio knows how to play extremely potent and powerful. But there's plenty of variety, as Man With Flute shows.

Always in for a joke, a song like Man With Tits pops up with more melodic guitar work; an orgasmic boom in which FOPAW wants to storm the sky. Of a completely different nature, there is the philosophical Mankind, in which poppy accents emerge.

Once again this is one hell of a musical ride (the bloody riffathon New Man is by far our favourite), with this triumvirate proving they're ready to take the stages big and small by storm. Still, the group "boldly going where no man with brick has gone before" has undergone a small transformation. In terms of line-up, the songs sound fitter, more muscular and tighter than on the debut.