Born of a boredom with conventional music, but with the intention of avoiding alienating audiences, Manzuma, as something solid, started back before the whole world was paranoid. Those were the days of Seventh Heaven and only the second re-run of Dawson’s Creek; when the Smashing Pumpkins were still fresh in the collective mind and Kid A lingered in the 3am’s of adolescent boys.

Manzuma started writing their first album, Inside the Serpent Skin, way back then. It took two years to record because, well, just because anything less would have made it seem like too easy an album. Countless hours in a studio in the backyard at Bardon, then downstairs in West End, and the front room in Toowong proved they were worth every minute. The 9 track, 60 minute Serpent received accolades from Scene Magazine and The Consensus...

“Manzuma have the potential to be one of those rare acts who can be all things to all people without diluting their unique sound or compromising artistic integrity... an accomplished debut.” (Scene Magazine 13/7/2005)

“Skyborn [from Serpent] is a work of near perfection. With high emphasis on production and composition and a full spectrum of sound that tickles my eardrums to the point of euphoria.” (www.c0nsensus.com 5/7/2005)

That was 2005. A little over two years since the release of Inside the Serpent Skin, Manzuma’s second album, Hollows, lurks around the corner – complete, but just out of view – ready for release.

Hollows contains eleven tracks and distracts from the mundane for a little over an hour. The first half tangles, the second unravels – and in a fashion you’re not likely to see repeated.

Coupling the imminent release of Hollows is a 5 piece band dedicated to relieving your Post-Pop-Punk and RnB woes. Delivering a sound distinctly their own, but with shades of industrial, and hints of world music (think Peter Gabriel meets Rammstein meets Dead Can Dance), Manzuma’s music comes in big greedy chunks, which somehow is no excess.

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