By “Tampa” Earl Burton, Rock At Night Columnist
Review: Fozzy’s album Boombox-Release date May 6, 2022 via Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group
For those of us in the “real world,” there are only twenty-four hours in a day and only seven days a week. Time must work differently in the multi-hyphenated world of Fozzy front man, wrestler/executive, and media creator (he served as producer for the excellent documentary of the band Siren and narrates and the television program Dark Side of the Ring) Chris Jericho. He usually wears several hats a day it seems, but recently the hat he has worn most is that of Fozzy, the band he has led for two decades. Ahead of the release of the group’s eighth album, Boombox, on May 6, Jericho is showing that he and the band are in excellent shape and still at the peak of their abilities.
In 1999, the group began as somewhat of a joke. Jericho adopted a persona (“Mongoose McQueen”) that had never heard of the wrestler and the band did cover songs under the pretext THEY had done the songs first before the bands that made them famous. In the five albums that followed, they gradually moved away from that charade and became a solid rock and roll band. Their seventh release, 2017’s Judas, sealed Fozzy as one of the best stadium (and radio) rock acts out there, with such songs as the title track and “Painless” bringing the Fozzy sound to an adoring audience.
If there is one downside to Fozzy’s Boombox, it is that they have already released some fantastic songs that appear on the CD (it was meant to be called 2020 and released that year, but Jericho’s wrestling commitments and the COVID pandemic delayed its release). “Sane” was released in September 2021 and they released “Nowhere to Run” way back in 2019. “I Still Burn” was released a couple of months ago (it appears that “I Still Burn,” despite slightly cliched lyrics, is the one going to stick) and normally by that point a band has tapped all the good stuff. Fortunately, the good thing is there are other outstanding songs on Boombox that are well worth your time.
One of the tunes is “Purifier,” a straightforward rocker that follows both “Sane” and “I Still Burn” on the track listings. It is simply a solid song that demonstrates the skills of Jericho (not a great singer, but way beyond average) and the band, making for a great arena tune. The song that captured my attention was “Omen,” which gets a little darker and features some frenetic drum work from Grant Brooks and some powerful guitar shredding from lead guitarist Rich Ward and rhythm man Billy Grey. The group even delve into synthesizer sounds with a throwback to their “early days” in covering Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Relax.”
Lording above it all is Jericho, who might be on the other side of the hill as far as wrestling goes but he still has more than ample chops to cut it as a rock star. With Boombox, Fozzy has been able to continue their ascent up the rock and roll hierarchy – they have improved with every record and are still a force in the rock world. I could easily see Fozzy’s Boombox being one of the rock jams of the summer, in no small part because of the inexhaustible Jericho’s work ethic – “Le Champion” only does excellence, after all!
VIDEOS
Track Listing1. Sane2. I Still Burn3. Purifier4. Army Of One5. Ugly On The Inside6. Relax (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)7. Nowhere To Run8. My Great Wall9. What Hell Is Like10. Omen11. The Worst Is Yet To Come12. The Vulture Club
Fozzy is Chris Jericho (vocals), Rich Ward (guitars, vocals), Frank Fontsere (drums), Billy Grey (guitars) and PJ Farley (bass).
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