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Artist: Fozzy |
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As
a band Fozzy were a bit of mystery to me only knowing the band member's by
reputation in their other bands and fields, starting off with Stuck
Mojo’s Rich Ward and wrestler Chris Jericho. So who could have imagined
these two getting together to form a band, but that’s what happened
after an encounter back stage at Alamodome
in San Antonio in 1999. This chance encounter led to another and a
conversation, and then an inkling of an idea, and then as they say, the rest is
history. Fozzy
originally started out as the cover band Fozzy Osbourne, but after a
couple of cover albums and the various member changes since 1999, the
band have grown. Now in 2010 the band are about to release what has
to be the band's biggest and best album to date. To
be honest before this album I’d not heard anything the band have
released to date, so I did a little research in the internet. To say
I've been blown away with Jericho’s voice is an understatement, he
comes across as the demon incarnation of Ozzy and Chris Cornell, the
resulting vocal being hell made for heavy metal. When
the first track ‘Under Blackened Skies’ off the new album 'Chasing
The Grail' unleashes that awesome mix of Ward’s driven guitar sound and
Jericho’s superb vocal, I was just dumbfounded with shock and awe. The
mix of heavy guitar riffs with a classic rock vocal is just astounding,
and that was just the first track! I couldn’t wait to hear more. And
to say I wasn’t disappointed with what the rest of the album had to
offer would be an understatement, as the heavy meaty rock continues with
the pounding ‘Martyr No More’ and the excellent ‘Grail’, both
tracks that remind me of the two era’s of Ozzy that I just love, the
Sabbathesque ‘Grail’ and the Blizzard of Ozesque ‘Martyr No
More’. The
album really pushes the Fozzy sound to new heights as it continues to
impress with the mighty ‘Broken Soul’, not at all the heavy thumper
as the first couple of tracks, but this one has a more gentle feel, a real
modern rock anthem. Not a ballad but a true rock song. The
tempo is brought right back up with ‘Let The Madness Begin’, (this is
what Ozzy says before every show) as the bass thumper Sean Delson making
his mark on this one along with skins man Frank Fontsette, as they lay
down the foundation for both Ward and Jericho to do what they do best,
Hard Rockin’ meat and bones Rock with a capital R. The
band really go the for the jugular with the all out Metal assault of
‘Pray For Blood’, a real ball busting metal attack as Ward lays down
some the heaviest riffs on the album so far. It’s
a total switch of style and pace with ‘New Days Dawn’, where the band
mix both Symphonic and traditional metal styles to great effect. But if
I had to pick one track off the album that for me pushes the Fozzy
envelope it has to be ‘God Pounds His Nail’, a real groove rich heavy
bass ridden masterpiece that also features some superb Ward guitar
moments and that phenomenal Jericho metal vocal. If Ozzy and Rob Zombie
got together then this is what they’d sound like for sure. The
band also show they are in touch with what’s out there now in the
modern metal vibe with ‘Watch Me Shine’, before pulling no punches
with the remarkably titles ‘Paraskavedekatroaphbia (Friday the 13).
Try saying that with a few beers inside you, I dare you! Again the band
delve into the dark power metal vein of things, a powerhouse rhythm
section is the back bone for this one as Ward is given a free reign on
the six string razor, whilst Jericho again does a superb Ozzy styled
vocal. With
the album almost at a close the band don’t relent one iota as this
very impressive album continues to surprise me. As the heavier tones
continues with ‘’Revival’ before crowning everything off with the
excellent ‘Wormwood’, which starts off with a dark narrative intro
that is not what you expect, you're just waiting for an explosive start but
in fact you get the opposite, you get a gentle acoustic start which then
explodes into a molten torrent of metal which rounds off the album
superbly. This is one of the surprises of the year for me and is an album that will feature in my end of year round up for sure. |
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| Tracklisting:
1.
Under Blackened Skies |
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