Single Review: Save The World

Auckland’s hard rock stalwarts Midnight Manor are venturing ardently through their music-making journey. Having released a single just last month to great praise, the band are carrying forward the momentum in preparation for the release of their second full-length album Mindful Games.

This is a gloomier tune than the former single, Space Monkey; while the hard rock sound that makes up the core of Midnight Manor is present, this time it’s at a much slower tempo.

Smartly centred around four chords, the ballad bears a handful of guitar flourishes, but aside from that, there are few frills. The basslines faithfully follow the steady four-four rhythm, letting the lead vocals and chord strums do the work. The supporting vocals in the background are a great touch, adding breadth and emotional weight to the chorus.

With frontman Tommy Rock’s vocals in the front seat, laid out on an electronically-filtered drum beat, the verses are emotive to listen to. Appearing to serve a timely reminder by pleading “Can’t you see we’re repeating history?”, there are also plenty of words of advice, acknowledging “everyone has made many mistakes”, and to “do what you can before society breaks”.

Immediately after those words, there’s four unexpected bars of quiet electronic drums before launching the lead guitar screams into a solo. Being a slow song, one wonders if the build of tension would be carried straight on to the tensely melodic guitar solo.

There is room left for listeners to ponder what issues the song is targeting. Is he talking about racism? Or societal intolerance? It also doesn’t take much of a stretch to think how the verses may relate to things we’ve all seen in current global events!

A very introspective post-grunge number with a close-to-the-heart message, if you’re after some down-time music to wind down to, definitely stop by this track. Also, be on the lookout for Midnight Manor’s official music video to Save the World; follow them on Facebook, and stream their tunes on Spotify.