Culture Blues

Music: “Foxy Shazam” – Foxy Shazam

In three albums, Foxy Shazam has gone from unhinged screamcore band to a polished retro-anthem generating machine. They’ve finally arrived at a sound that befits their ridiculous name, and it seems like a completely different band than on their debut album 5 years ago. This latest album is overblown, pompous and shallow. It’s The Darkness meets Queen with a dash of Meat Loaf. And I like it.

Foxy Shazam doesn’t go for the sort of slow build that talented, credible indie bands made so popular in the last decade. They’re all about 3 minute songs that start big and only get bigger. Frontman Eric Nally’s lyrics have a few inspired moments, but his delivery renders the words damn near insignificant. He’s got a flair for the dramatic and his voice soars at all the right moments. The vocal theatrics on display will probably turn some people off, but I say “go big or go home.”

There is a variety of pop motifs on display here. The songs certainly don’t “sound” the same, but they do have a tendency to blend together. The lead track Bombs Away along with singles Wanna-Be Angel and Oh Lord all stand out simply because they rock. The muted burlesque horns and swing cadence on The Only Way To My Heart… differentiate it. And album closer Evil Thoughts is the one “quiet” song on the album, and sadly not a great way for an album like this to end. The other tracks are varying degrees of “good” but none are terribly memorable. The album only has one true blemish; I can’t stand the saccharine, gospel-y Connect. It sucks and is memorable for all the wrong reasons.

This album takes influence from three decades of pop hits. Every note calls to mind some other song. For me though, it was much more a general feeling of “this is familiar, I like this” than “hey, they stole that from so-and-so.” This is a pure pop record - lively, fun and melodramatic. I don’t know that I will revisit it in its entirety often, but some of these songs are never leaving my iPod.