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I've been following locals Ice War off and on for a little while but ... so much music, so little time. I've been listening to Manifest Destiny on occasion since I got it and couldn't quite figure out what to think. The music is very much in the same vein as their previous material; straightforward, catchy heavy metal heavily rooted in the late '70s and reminiscent of a lot of DIY NWOBHM bands of the time. If you're looking for over-the-top musicianship, this is not it. Sole member Jo Capitalicide plays it honestly and without flash but has a knack for melodies and foot-tapping-inducing, catchy riffs. What hurts the album are some of the vocals on a couple of songs where not only is there too much repetition (e.g., repeating the name of the title track or that of "Edge of the World" way too often), but it sounds like he tried for something out of his range. It's really distracting and, unfortunately, the end result is that this is what I tend to remember the most from the album. When I manage to make abstraction of this, then this turns out to be a fun, catchy and unpretentious album.