Healthy Manipulation

The band may look like young punks on the back of Healthy Manipulation, the debut from Clockwise; however, the music within is more straightforward rock, not too far sonically from the guitar-fueled styles of Collective Soul, though with a slightly more abrasive edge to it that growing up in the nu world will give a band. Clockwise never lacks for confidence, as each of the dozen tracks — whether it's the white-boy funk of "Ego," the Creed-like balladry of "Aware," or mid-tempo rockers such as "Open" and "Come Through" — is a slickly produced (courtesy of Andy Wallace) modern-day take on blues crunch that breaks no new ground, but shows a talented band who needs to write catchier songs before it gets past the "promising" label. ~ Brian O'Neill, Rovi