Artist: Fozzy
Label: Century Media
Release: 2012
Length: 51:45
Rating: 3/5
Fozzy are a kind of modern offshoot of heavy rock, with a cranked-up production that belongs in the heavy metal arsenal. A raw, torn-up live sound, ragged, smeared guitars forming a wall of riffs, which the gruff, throaty lead vocals of Chris Jericho, a professional »wrestler« by trade, lean on.
»Sin And Bones« is the band’s fifth studio album and their first for Century Media Records. The third album, »All That Remains«, brought the band closer to the wider masses, and the single Enemy flew its flag successfully back in the day (2005). But it was only with »Chasing The Grail« that the band managed to put together a record documenting bold variability, with well-judged detours in individual figures (songs) away from the basic heavy metal/heavy rock stance. »Sin And Bones« is really its sequel. The band keeps its stance, marked by a fusion of several metal and rock subgenres, which means Fozzy are hard to squeeze into a defined genre pigeonhole.
»Groove« has always been at home in this band, and so the opener Spider in My Mouth kicks things off with a grabby melody, armed with a massive wall of sound and contrasted by a thickened-up rhythm section. Fozzy keep the primacy of melody on this album too! So regardless of some passages that are typical of the extreme genre spheres of metal, like in the title track or the lewd She’s My Addiction, classic heavy metal fans needn’t worry that the band will slip into semitone riff-combining or use growling at any point. Fozzy also maintain a retro vibe of the old days, which adds the daring of rock n’ roll and punk grime to the basic heavy metal stance, as well as hooks that could be used in the extreme metal genres with the »core« ending. It’s all nicely delivered in a modern »groove« production, even though this is very clichéd music that brings nothing new.
Redneck heavy rock with a folk intro beat in the second song, Sandpaper, which features M. Shadows (Avenged Sevenfold) in a duet, shows that Fozzy are »tattoo-you« Americans and nothing more. The cover has a »skull with wings«, with an American star on the skull’s forehead. What the hell? A »peeled-off old stunt« that makes you wonder in advance how much hope is left in the music on the rest of the record. But there’s no need.
It isn’t fair to judge music by its cover, but the motif chosen for this album is so worn out that it hints all by itself that Fozzy aren’t exactly part of the intellectual class, just a muscular lump of pumped-up flesh and tattooed skin. Enough sensationalizing! Fozzy are, in short, sincere American patriots and true-believing defenders of the US Constitution, proud of their history and the significance of the USA in the world. That’s what the five-part epic poem, which holds together over more than 12 minutes and is called Storm The Beaches, is dedicated to. No point talking about progressiveness here, just an epic metal suite. The song is built from many rhythmic turns and different motif passages that follow the story of the Allied landing in Normandy on 06.06.1944. I beg you, heart and soul: stay immune to the extremely »infantile« lyrics that build the verses, and you’ll still take something away from the song. Chris Jericho is a very solid singer; now and then, picture Zakk Wylde trying to sing like Bruce Dickinson. The closing epic is one of the best moments on the record. Stuck in clichés, but it works very successfully in production and performance. No standouts, but very successful.
The title track Sin And Bones is really a ride at a quickened tempo, with riffs laced with »breaks«, which is in fact a principle typical of a whole host of metalcore bands, a genre that kind of drifted out of focus about three years ago. But the song is led by a melodic, authoritative vocal, which makes it interesting, even if Fozzy aren’t reinventing the wheel with it. At moments like these, you occasionally get the feeling that the band is joking around in the style of a parody.
The album is really a collection of riff-and-arrangement solutions drawing on metal and hard rock of the old days, dressed up in a modern, groove-laden production, so there’s no shortage of generic quips, yet besides the epic Storm the Beaches there’s one more moment on the album that’s truly high quality and, in its »seriousness«, stands out from the other songs like theater drama. That’s the sixth track, the more complexly set up A Passed Life. It’s a mini epic suite with many passages and twists of rhythmic textures, and the vocals show mastery too, fusing several different approaches to delivering verses in a melodic, authoritative interpretation. So, a similar, shortened variant of the epic Storm The Beaches, with more of a ballad component. She’s My Addiction is an interesting conglomerate of classic metal that deals with the rawness of punk and rock n’ roll hedonism, even glazed with a touch of glam. Definitely a detour on the album, and the guitar solo in it is untangled by the most handy guitarist for such jobs. That’s none other than Phil Campbell, a member of the cult punks of rock ‘n’ roll, Motorhead.
Evidently, with the fourth album the band found the right formula in which they feel good, and so they kept a similar developmental direction for the next album, »Sin And Bones«. And of the latter we can say it confirmed the band’s maturing, as it sounds the most convincing to date when you compare it with the band’s past work. It doesn’t hide its generic side, but the thing can still be a lot of fun, since it’s a varied culmination of diverse songs that keep a dynamic flow, and the quality of the album is also upheld by the excellent production and, of course, a feeling of voltage-fueled white heat created by an adrenaline-juiced sound.
Lineup
Chris Jericho – vocals
Rich Ward – guitar, backing vocals
Billy Grey – guitar
Paul Di Leo – bass
Frank Fontsere – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
M. Shadows – vocals on track no. 2
Phil Campbell – guitar solo on track no. 7
Production
Richard Ward
Track list
1. Spider in My Mouth
2. Sandpaper
3. Blood Happens
4. Inside My Head
5. Sin and Bones
6. A Passed Life
7. She’s My Addiction
8. Shine Forever
9. Dark Passenger
10. Storm the Beaches
