The Third Eye

Hooveriii (pronounced “Hoover Three”) crashes back to Earth with Manhunter, their most cohesive and ambitious record yet. It’s not a soft landing but more like a glam-rock UFO slamming into the desert at full speed, chrome gleaming.

This fifth LP sees the L.A. crew synthesize their many modes: krautrock propulsion, post-punk sneer, new age shimmer, and arena rock thunder, all pounding beneath the same leather jacket. 

The opener, “Melody,” arrives snarling, a stomping glam juggernaut with jagged guitars and a rhythm section that punches like it’s got something to prove. From there, the band never settles into a single orbit, opting for a multicolor trajectory through fifteen tracks of strange, swaggering vision.

Tracks like “In the Rain” show Hooveriii’s growing range, a ghostly psych-folk ballad that sounds like Gene Clark beamed into a post-apocalyptic motel. Meanwhile, “Heaven at the Gates” locks into a motorik groove, kosmische with guts and gloss, climaxing in a lightning-bolt solo courtesy of guest Kyle Seely. It’s hypnotic without going limp, exploratory without noodling.

And then there’s “Isolation,” which feels like a panic attack at a garage punk rave: feral guitars, jumpy rhythms, and an undercurrent of delicious dread.

The band has always been tight, but here they’re precise, every synth squiggle and drum fill lands with purpose. Bert Hoover leads with wiry charisma, flanked by a locked-in crew (Kaz Mirblouk, Jon Modaff, Paco Casanova, Matthew Zuk) and bolstered by sharp cameos (Baby Gabe’s sax, Anna Wallace’s backing vox).

Across Manhunter, Hooveriii sounds less like they’re referencing their influences and more like they’ve metabolized them into something strange and singular. It’s the sound of a band carving their own wormhole through rock history. There’s plenty of muscle here, but also mystery.

Manhunter reminds us that psychedelia doesn’t need to be nostalgic, washed-out, or ironic. It can hit hard and shimmer. Hooveriii aren’t escaping the atmosphere anymore; they’ve built their own gravity.

Check it out on Bandcamp here.