OK, I’ll admit it! I am definately (and not a little defiantly!) a product of the 80s in terms of my main rock loves. As long as it rocked hard, had good melodic tunes, rocked hard, had great guitar and…oh yeah, rocked hard….I loved it. Alright, some were better than others but if you dig through my records (yep, I’m that old!), tapes (“what are tapes, Dad?”) and CDs you’ll find them all there! It would appear that Crazy Lixx have been having a holiday in my collection.
Crazy Lixx is a Swedish hard rock band formed in 2002 inMalmö, Sweden and were among the first bands to emerge in what has been known as “The New Wave of Swedish Sleaze” along with Crashdïet, Hardcore Superstar, Babylon Bombs and Vains of Jenna but just like their fellow genre-mates, Crazy Lixx have now created their own style and are considered to be more of an 80’s influenced Hard Rock band. Crazy Lixx debuted with “Loud Minority” in November 2007, an album that notwithstanding the independent release, received a great acclaim from the media and fans, reaching position #2 in the national Swedish Hard Rock chart. The follow up album “New Religion” was equally, if not more successful thanks to the worldwide release on Frontiers Records.
Crazy Lixx are now back with a rocking new album which sums up all the influences from KISS, Guns’n’Roses, Buckcherry and Motley Crue. Lots of “gang” vocals, harmonies and all that made the aforementioned so good at what they do twenty five years ago this lot would have been staples of MTV (“No way, Dad! MTV played music videos?”) and one listen to this CD confirms that Crazy Lixx are no mere copyist band. They truly stamp their own originality on the tracks, whilst maintaining the hooks and tricks that us “old school” hair metal fans will love – fourth track “Fire It Up” eben contains some Desmond Child patented “Whoa, Whoas”.
First single, “In the Night” starts with a cool riff and just builds with a spot of gang vocal and a chorus as catchy as (insert own joke here). This appears six tracks into the CD and it is the first that you would pin the “Sleaze” genre to – that said, it is clearly more 80s influenced (very similar in places to Guns n Roses when they were Guns ‘n’ Roses).
…and yes, it rocks hard.
“Riot Avenue” is released on 20th April on Frontiers Records.
For more information: www.crazylixx.com
Review by David Wilson
You must log in to post a comment.