Albums

Foxy Shazam - Foxy Shazam

Joe Coyle 19/11/2010

Rating: 4.5/5

Its not often that you are speechless when you first listen to an album. Overblown and frequently ridiculous, coming on like the bastard son of the Meatloaf, Billy Joel and Queen are Foxy Shazam.

Hailing from Ohio, USA. Eric Nally and his bunch of preposterous misfits create a sound that defies the senses. Tongue firmly in cheek, this is 70's rock on a grand scale with nods to the attention deficit disorders of Generation X. Foxy Shazam are a band who are not afraid to dream big and they make music for stadiums.

Nally orchestrates the proceedings like the ringmaster of a freak show, a hybrid of Freddie Mercury and Vince Noir. Whipping up a storm, this is a band who may not be to your taste but they are certainly the most fun I have had listening to an album in recent history.

Fist pumping choruses, irresistible melodies and a sprinkling of classic rocking which you didn't even realise you were missing. Comparisons to the Darkness would be predictably lazy, but its worth mentioning Justin Hawkins from the Darkness pops up on “Count me out” to provide guitar, and in Eric Nally, Foxy Shazam have an equally flamboyant and slightly more bonkers front-man.

In the current climate Foxy Shazam don't sound like anyone else and the album has a classic timeless quality, brimming with would be singles. It's is very hard to pick out stand out tracks cause the quality here is so high.

“Wanna be Angel” cruises along with pop bombast that Keane would kill for. “Count Me Out” is possibly the most commercial song on the album but doesn't suffer at all from its AOR roots. “Bye Bye Symphony” drifts by like a classic ballad missing from time and “Unstoppable” with its sing-along chorus is screaming out to be played in any of the faceless enormo-domes which populate stadium rock.

If I were to have any criticism of the album it would be because of how strong the album is in its early stages it seems to tale off slightly towards the end. That said as an album Foxy Shazam has a grandeur and pomp which is sadly missing in much of today's music, Foxy Shazam are certainly a guilty pleasure, but a pleasure all the same.