Lithiumradio.net Reviews "Horror Show"
When Anders Manga first came onto the scene in 2005 he quickly became, according to download.com, the year’s most downloaded artist. I don’t remember how I came across Anders website but I do remember the energy I felt when I first heard One Up for the Dying. I was blown away by the force that was emanating from my speakers. Needless to say, I bought the album soon afterwards. Then in 2006 Anders released Left of an All Time Low, and the energy didn’t dissipate in fact it grew. Now not even 10 months later we get Welcome to the Horror Show.
The title track, Welcome to the Horror Show, is easily my favorite song on the album. It’s a soft, melodic song and combined with Anders deep dark voice, it is an instant hit. I guess the same could be said about the entire album but Welcome to the Horror Show is the on that stood out for me. I could just feel the torment of the song, and the piano during the chorus just added to that feeling. Beautiful, the next track, is the first track from the album to have a video and can be seen at Anders Manga’s website. It’s a dark commentary on beauty and that our collective conscience is that if our outward appearance is beautiful then our inner turmoil will disappear; I could be way off base with that though. 5150 creeped me out, when I listen to it I get images of an old house and inside and up the stairs was an old baby crib with and old crane of a woman sitting beside it gently rocking it and this song playing as the lullaby. Also on the album is Mercy Seat, a track originally done be Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, it is excellently done; Anders took this song and made it his own.
One Up for the Dying has been in my stereo since the day I got it, I recently took it out to put Welcome to the Horror Show in it’s place, I have a feeling that it will be there until Anders’ next release. If you consider yourself a fan, then you need to get this album. It’s worth its weight in gold.