Stones (Manafest album)

Stones is the ninth studio album by Canadian Christian rapper Manafest. It was independently released on July 21, 2017.[1] The release was fan-funded through a Kickstarter campaign and is Manafest's second fully independent album since his departure from BEC Recordings.[2][3]

Stones
Studio album by
Manafest
ReleasedJuly 21, 2017 (2017-07-21)
GenreRap rock, alternative rock, hard rock
Length39:02
LabelManafest Productions
ProducerSeth Mosley, Michael X O'Conner, Adam Messinger, Wally Gagel, Xandy Barry, Lenny Skolnik, Joel Piper
Manafest chronology
Reborn
(2015)		 Stones
(2017)		 Stones Reloaded
(2018)

Background

On October 5, 2015, Manafest released three bonus tracks via PledgeMusic to those who supported his 2015 album Reborn. The second track given to fans was a demo song entitled "I Won't Give Up". It was retitled "Won't Give Up" and musically altered before being debuted as a single on April 29, 2016. This track eventually went on to be the closing track for the album Stones.

On February 20, 2017, Manafest launched a Kickstarter project for a new album entitled Stones.[4] On the same day, Manafest also released the title track to fans (via email and Dropbox) who had supported his previous fan-funded projects.

On March 21, 2017, Manafest debuted the second single from the album entitled "House of Cards" to pledgers. On May 9, the song was released to project backers for early download.

On May 26, 2017, Manafest announced that pledgers would be getting two unreleased bonus tracks, as well as the instrumentals for the album.

Around the second week of June, 2017, pledgers began receiving their copies of the album, a little less than a month ahead of the release date.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
CCM Magazine[5]
The Christian Beat[6]
Jesus Freak Hideout[7]
[8]
[9]
New Release Today[10]
Shockwave Magazine(Favorable)[11]

The album received generally positive to average reviews from multiple professional music sites and reviews.

Amanda DeWilde of New Release Today stated, "After nearly twenty years of writing music, Manafest has certainly reached the point in his career of knowing what his fans like and exuding confidence in his unique style. Stones is all about unapologetically pursuing your God-given talents and passions despite the voices telling you to stop, whether they be from the devil, the overly critical, or from inside your own head."[10] Matt Conner of CCM Magazine went on to say, "Five years have passed since Manafest last delivered an all-out rock assault, which makes Stones a special surprise for fans of albums like The Chase or Fighter. The heavy instrumentation matches the found themes, giving the album a darker, more authentic mood than other releases....Modern rock fans will enjoy the majority of Stones while longtime fans will appreciate throwback tunes like the Caribbean feel and flow of 'Coming Back'."[5] Ryan Dekkinga of Shockwave Magazine praised the album saying, "This is an album I can rock out to with my kids in the car, fists in the air, all without a care in the world. These are all admirable traits and quite frankly, make for a refreshing take on what rock and roll can be. It can ask more of you. It can inspire. It can have a great time doing it too."[11] Finally, Chris Major of The Christian Beat concluded, "It's clear that Manafest has stepped up to the challenge again, having created something that is guaranteed to become a fan favorite. In fact, Stones has everything fans have come to love - and more. The album is the artist's signature sound, with the energetic fight anthems and moments of resolve that make his previous works so well beloved. For all fans of Manafest's music, stop now and listen to Stones - it's the album you've been waiting for."[6]

On the flipside, Kevin Hoskins of Jesus Freak Hideout moderately stated, "As with most albums, not all is perfect on this release as some tracks could be labeled as just fair....I personally wish he would stick to his sweet spot of rap/rock, but he definitely has an appeal to a much broader scope of fans. Fans should definitely check this out even though it may not be Mana's best work to date."[8] David Craft of Jesus Freak Hideout concluded, "Ultimately, the album's greatest shortcomings are found in its lack of lyrical depth. None of the songs are of poor quality, and some are indeed quite enjoyable. If anything, Stones feels like a just above-average missed opportunity. Manafest is extremely talented and his skill bleeds through quite often this time around, but while the album is a success, we can hope for more home runs next time."[7]

Awards

The album received a nomination in the category of "Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year" for the Juno Awards of 2018.[12]

Singles

On February 23, 2017, Manafest released the title track "Stones" as the first single off the release via lyric video. On March 21, 2017, Manafest debuted a second single entitled "House of Cards" to pledgers exclusively. It was later released to the public in the form of a lyric video.

Track listing
Album release
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Stones"Chris Greenwood, Adam MessingerAdam Messinger3:12
2."House of Cards"Greenwood, Seth MosleySeth Mosley, Michael X O'Connor2:40
3."Firestarter"Greenwood, Trevor McNevan, Mosley, Joe RickardMosley, O'Connor3:31
4."When the Truth Comes Out"Greenwood, Lenny Skolnik, Seann BoweLenny Skolnik3:43
5."Find a Way to Fight"Greenwood, Mark Kasprzyk, Wally Gagel, Xandy BarryWally Gagel, Xandy Barry3:23
6."You're Gonna Rise"Greenwood, Mosley, Justin CordleMosley, O'Connor4:44
7."Blow You Away"Greenwood, Mosley, RickardMosley, O'Connor3:00
8."Coming Back"Greenwood, Skolnik, Bowe, RickardSkolnik3:39
9."Merry Go Round"Greenwood, Mosley, RickardMosley, O'Connor3:49
10."Amplifier" (featuring Alicia Simila of Newport Worship)Greenwood, Mosley, John CooperMosley, O'Connor3:35
11."Won't Give Up"Greenwood, Joel PiperJoel Piper3:46
Total length:39:02

Personnel
  • Manafest – lead vocals, executive producer
  • Alicia Simila – additional vocals on track 10
  • Adam Messinger – producer, mixing/instrumentation (track 1)
  • Seth Mosley – producer, background vocals, keys/programming (tracks 2 and 6), bass (track 6)
  • Michael X O'Connor – producer, engineering (tracks 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 10), sound editing (tracks 2 and 6)
  • Wally Gagel – producer
  • Xandy Barry – producer
  • Joel Piper – production, mixing (track 11)
  • Jerricho Scroggins – engineering (tracks 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9)

Chart performance
Chart (2017) Peak
position
Mainstream Rock Songs: "Stones" (Billboard)[13] 39
Mainstream Rock Songs: "House of Cards" (Billboard)[13] 37

Music videos

Lyric videos

Stones Reloaded

On July 27, 2017, Manafest announced via his Patreon that he was working on a release entitled "The Remix Project" in which he was planning to remix all the songs from Stones.[14][15] On September 28, 2017, Manafest announced the project was officially titled Stones Reloaded and he began to release songs each month to supporters before releasing the full album on September 21, 2018.[16]

Notes
  • On August 31, 2017, as with most of his other releases, Manafest released the instrumentals for Stones.[17]
gollark: Writing a bare metal microkernel in Haskell is not very practical.
gollark: > I never tried it. It's nice that it has these safety features but I prefer C++ still. > If I want to be sure that my program is free of bugs, I can write a formal specification and do a > correctness proof with the hoare calculus in some theorem proofer (People did that for the seL4 microkernel, which is free from bugs under some assumptions and used in satellites, nuclear power plants and such)Didn't doing that for seL4 require several hundred thousand lines of proof code?
gollark: Most countries have insanely convoluted tax law so I assume it's possible.
gollark: Hmm, so you need to obtain a hypercomputer of some sort to write your tax forms such that they cannot plausibly be checked?
gollark: What if it's somehow really easy to find *a* solution to something, but not specific ones, and hard to check the validity of a specific maybe-solution? Is that possible?

References
  1. "JFH News: Manafest Releases 1st Rock Album In 5 Years, Stones, July 21". Jesus Freak Hideout. July 18, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  2. "Creating hope & inspiration with Manafest's new album Stones". Kickstarter. February 20, 2017. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  3. "Support Manafest's New Album Stones On Kickstarter". YouTube. February 21, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  4. Ivy, Brandon (February 21, 2017). "Manafest Launches Kickstarter For New Album". Indie Vision Music. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  5. Matt, Conner (June 15, 2017). "Manafest – Stones album review". CCM Magazine. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  6. Major, Chris (July 31, 2017). "Stones Is The Classic Manafest Album We've Been Waiting For". The Christian Beat. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
  7. Craft, David (June 30, 2013). "Manafest, "Stones" Review". Jesus Freak Hideout. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  8. Hoskins, Kevin (June 16, 2017). "Manafest, "Stones" Review: Second Staff Opinion". Jesus Freak Hideout. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  9. Munachen, Lucas (June 16, 2017). "Manafest, "Stones" Review: JFH Staff's Addition Two Cents". Jesus Freak Hideout. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  10. DeWilde, Amanda (July 18, 2017). "Manafest – Stones by Manafest". New Release Tuesday. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  11. Dekkinga, Ryan (July 18, 2017). "Manafest: Stones". Shockwave Magazine. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  12. "Juno Awards nominations offer a few surprises". TheStar.com. February 6, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  13. "Manafest Mainstream Rock Songs chart history". Billboard.com. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  14. "Manafest - The Stones Remix Project". YouTube. July 27, 2017. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  15. "Manafest on Patreon". Patreon. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  16. "Stones Reloaded by Manafest on iTunes". iTunes. September 21, 2018. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
  17. "Stones Instrumentals on iTunes". iTunes. August 31, 2017. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
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