In Search of... (Fu Manchu album)

In Search of... is the third studio album by Fu Manchu, a stoner rock band from Southern California. It was released on February 27, 1996, by Mammoth Records.

This was the last album to feature Ruben Romano and Eddie Glass. Shortly after its release, the pair left and formed the band Nebula.

Reception
CMJ New Music Monthly referred to In Search of...'s "down-tuned, fuzzed-out riffage" as an of extension of the previous "wonders" of "low-brow sonic crunch" including Entombed's Wolverine Blues and heavy metal pioneers Blue Cheer. Classic Rock magazine stated that the band "conquered a predilection for over-indulgence" which led to their inclusion on the list of 10 stoner rock albums you should definitely own.

In the book The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal by Daniel Bukszpan it was brought out that "they are also notable for their influence on stoner rock's visual aesthetic, as the band's album artwork was among the first to feature the themes of muscle car's, gaseous astronomical entries, and that goofy Battlestar Galactica typeface." Speaking of the sonic influence of the album the book Come My Fanatics: A Journey Into the World of Electric Wizard by Dan Franklin stated, "Jus admits today that the album's gnarly guitar tone, generated in large part by a Crown model fuzzbox, blew him away and partially influenced what he wanted to achieve on Come My Fanatics...."

The band played the album live to commemorate its 15th anniversary. Lead vocalist and guitarist Scott Hill announced the tour explaining, "We are stoked to be playing these tunes for the fans and will be doing a few of them for the first time ever and maybe the last." Accurately recreating the instrumentation of the album Hill later related in an interview with The Aquarian Weekly that leading up to the tour, "we just pulled out all the old gear, the old guitars." In a post tour interview with Premier Guitar he went into the technical aspects of how they recreated the album live, "We tune to D all the way down D–G–C–F–A–D" and "I've pretty much had the same guitar tone since '93 or '94. I use a Univox Super-Fuzz and Crown W-Fuzz pedals, and those are basically the same tone."

Personnel

 * Scott Hill – vocals, guitar, producer
 * Ruben Romano – drums, producer
 * Eddie Glass – guitar, producer
 * Brad Davis – bass, producer

Production Recorded, mixed and produced by Brian Jenkins

Assistant engineer: Josh Turner

Mastered by Eddy Schreyer at Future Disc Systems, N. Hollywood, CA

Cover and back photos by Alex Obleas

Fu Manchu photographed by Lisa Johnson

All music Fu Manchu, all lyrics Scott Hill

1996 Van-O-Rama Music/ASCAP except "Redline" published by Van-O-Rama and Concorde New Horizon Corp./ASCAP