There’s a history of professional wrestlers who have dabbled in careers beyond in-ring action; some of them haven’t been entirely successful truth be told. We looked at Jeff Hardy’s band PEROXWHY?GEN earlier this year which left room for improvement...and even Hulk Hogan’s movies failed to reach any blockbuster status despite his star power in the 80’s and early 90’s…but there have been those who have managed to make a name for themselves beyond the Lycra, breaking kayfabe and breaking into the mainstream. The Rock for instance is now officially a bona fide mega star in Hollywood, Jesse Ventura had successful runs as a Mayor and then Governor of Minnesota…and then there’s Chris Jericho. Yes the ayatollah of rock and rolla is, as well as a highly successful professional wrestler, a New York Times best-selling author, a podcast host and oh yeah…front-man for the band FOZZY. Having formed back in the late 90’s and initially focussing on classic covers, they steadily rose in prominence and popularity with their tight live performances and in the years since, they’ve honed their craft with a series of promising and encouraging albums, now, in 2017 we see them return with new album “Judas” on Century Media records…let’s check it out…
We begin with the title track…THAT track…quite possibly the biggest success of Fozzy’s career to date. Their highest charting single ever, reaching number 5 on the US mainstream rock charts and racking up over 11 million views on YouTube, “Judas” perfectly works the soft melodious tones of Jericho’s clean vocals around some text-book hard rock riffs, building up to this huge, infectious chorus. This is incredibly polished and kicks the album off brilliantly, a great start. We follow up with “Drinkin With Jesus” and again we have some solid riffs; no frills, no nonsense, this is straight up ballsy rock ‘n’ roll…another powerful chorus and it’s clear Fozzy are on top form here. This is further proved with additional highlights such as “Weight Of My World” and especially the massive hooks of “Burn Me Out”…the latter is incredibly addictive with its subtle electronic elements and pop-rock appeal, this is some catchy shit!
There are a couple of lesser tracks here breaking up a lot of the momentum however, “Painless” for example comes across as a little sluggish and disinterested, while “Wordsworth Way” despite having a slightly dramatic intro fails to excite overall…but generally the album is consistently impressive. “Three Days In Jail” shakes things up with some nu-metal inspired rapping, adding fresh character to the Fozzy sound, just as “Elevator” again dabbles with subtle layers of electronica with yet another infectious chorus. Essentially what we have here is a band that have finally found themselves…everything that’s led up to this point has been exploratory, and while there have been glimmers of hope throughout their back catalog, such as “Watch Me Shine” and “Lights Go Out”…here we find them nailing it. This is Fozzy and it’s easily the strongest material they’ve ever put to record. Do you know what happens? Do you know what happens when Fozzy make one of the rock albums of the year? Do you? Do you know what happens? You stupid idiots….Fozzy just made the list! My top albums of 2017 list that is... [9]
We begin with the title track…THAT track…quite possibly the biggest success of Fozzy’s career to date. Their highest charting single ever, reaching number 5 on the US mainstream rock charts and racking up over 11 million views on YouTube, “Judas” perfectly works the soft melodious tones of Jericho’s clean vocals around some text-book hard rock riffs, building up to this huge, infectious chorus. This is incredibly polished and kicks the album off brilliantly, a great start. We follow up with “Drinkin With Jesus” and again we have some solid riffs; no frills, no nonsense, this is straight up ballsy rock ‘n’ roll…another powerful chorus and it’s clear Fozzy are on top form here. This is further proved with additional highlights such as “Weight Of My World” and especially the massive hooks of “Burn Me Out”…the latter is incredibly addictive with its subtle electronic elements and pop-rock appeal, this is some catchy shit!
There are a couple of lesser tracks here breaking up a lot of the momentum however, “Painless” for example comes across as a little sluggish and disinterested, while “Wordsworth Way” despite having a slightly dramatic intro fails to excite overall…but generally the album is consistently impressive. “Three Days In Jail” shakes things up with some nu-metal inspired rapping, adding fresh character to the Fozzy sound, just as “Elevator” again dabbles with subtle layers of electronica with yet another infectious chorus. Essentially what we have here is a band that have finally found themselves…everything that’s led up to this point has been exploratory, and while there have been glimmers of hope throughout their back catalog, such as “Watch Me Shine” and “Lights Go Out”…here we find them nailing it. This is Fozzy and it’s easily the strongest material they’ve ever put to record. Do you know what happens? Do you know what happens when Fozzy make one of the rock albums of the year? Do you? Do you know what happens? You stupid idiots….Fozzy just made the list! My top albums of 2017 list that is... [9]
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