Local Reviews: Lord Mandrake

Lord Mandrake
The Best Of All Possible Worlds
Self-Released
Street: 07.07
Lord Mandrake = Mushman + Evangelicals
The Best of All Possible Worlds proves that Lord Mandrake is both talented and interesting, but the album’s overall execution leaves something to be desired. Spooky delayed guitars and reverb vocals lazily flow over each song and each track blends nicely into the next, but the songs all sound too similar and nothing really grabs your attention. Lord Mandrake tries to switch things up on a few songs (a scream that could be bigger at the end of “Se Me Subio el Muerto” and tricky, time-changing vocals on “Radioshonde”), but none of it is enough to give the songs the edge they need. I want to like Lord Mandrake (especially because The Best of All Possible Worlds comes in awesome screen-printed packaging), but I just can’t find anything to hold onto.