Fu Manchu has been kicking out the jams for the bong and beard nation for more than a decade now and without any real detriment to its creative zeal. We Must Obey's opening, titular cut swaggers and sways with the ferocity listeners have come to expect. On it, Scott Hill and Bob Balch serve up an enviable riff gauntlet as Hill belts out his trademark dark 'n' sexy vocals above the impervious bed of rock beneath. On that track, as with many of the others here––the roundhouse chop of "Knew It All Along," the thunderous and occasionally disturbing "Hung Out to Dry," the trailer-house dance anthem "Shake It Loose"––we're permitted to live in a bygone era, a time when super-sized mirrored sunglasses and dirty, dingy mudflaps reigned supreme--a time when rock 'n' roll was about the almighty riff and not the mastery of the almighty pitch correction machine. The retro vibe hovers heavily enough, with authenticity enough, that you believe for a fleeting moment that the group's primitive but potent sounds comes not from its weighty amplifiers but from some universal force that predates electricity, maybe even man himself.