Lovers of 80’s glam/sleaze in the veins of Motley Crue, Guns N’ Roses and KISS can rejoice in the Swedish outfit Crazy Lixx. The band hails from Malmo, Sweden and came to be around 2002 when they wished to bring 80’s hard rock back to the music scene. The 2007 debut album, Loud Minority, was issued via a local Swedish label until Frontiers Records snatched them up for 2010’s New Religion, 2012’s Riot Avenue and now 2014’s Crazy Lixx. Interestingly, the band’s logo seems to be a little different for each of these album covers. Crazy Lixx, comprised of original co-founder and vocalist Danny Rexon, guitarists Andy Zata and Edd Liam, bassist Jens Sjoholm and drummer Joel Cirera, have delivered an awesome collection of 80’s vein hard glam rock with this self titled release.
The album kicks off with the first single, also given the video treatment, “Hell Raising Women”. The opening riffs tell you basically all you need to know, just get off your seat and get your fist in the air! “Sound of the Loud Minority” is the next selection and is just a little behind the opener in it’s infection. “Outlaw” charges out of the gates and features a sing along chorus, but “Girls of the 80’s” is nothing short of phenomenal. The track reminds me of exactly what got me into this music in days of my youth and I feel like calling up friends on the rotary dial phone and telling them to bring over a blank cassette. Things slow down just a little in “I Missed the Mark” and the misleadingly titled “All Looks, No Hooks” is anything but free of hooks. A statement that has been made many times by many bands rings clear again here in the upbeat rager “Ain’t No Rest in Rock N’ Roll”. “Call to Action” gets lost in the shuffle a little, but “Heroes Are Forever”, a re-working of the song off of Loud Minority, jumps right out at you. “Psycho City” has a chorus of gang vocals that’s ridiculously familiar, but I can’t quite place it and things finish up with “Wrecking Ball Crew”.
Crazy Lixx tends to peter out a little during the latter half of the record, but nonetheless this is a strong glam/sleaze effort straight out of the 80’s……gotta go now and hit play all over again!
Cheers,
The Meister
