“There sure are a lot of dogs out this evening,” says Foxy Shazam frontman Eric Nally at the start of their latest album. “Perhaps they can assist me in a song.” Cue a barking intro to opener ‘Bombs Away’. Well, this isn’t ‘Who Let the Dogs Out?’, but it certainly is barking, as is the rest of the album and everything else about Foxy Shazam for that matter. For those who aren’t yet acquainted, this Cincinnati sextet are now six years old and this is already their third offering, albeit their first on a major label. For those of you who are familiar with their previous work, their latest release may come as quite a shock.
Rewind five years to their debut ‘The Flamingo Trigger’ and you will find a completely different band altogether. Back then, they were playing a kind of experimental and schizophrenic post-hardcore music that wouldn’t seem out of place on the stereo of a lunatic asylum. Although it could be argued that Foxy Shazam still carry the same kind of reckless insanity in their music, they are now almost unrecognisable compared with their former incarnation.
Their last LP ‘Introducing’ may have leaned a bit more in this direction, but ‘Foxy Shazam’ is a giant leap further again. It’s always good to see a band moving away from the safety of mediocrity, but this is ridiculous. However, this is almost certainly their most accessible release to date. The album seamlessly blends together a range of genres that are likely to gain the group much appeal across various circles of musical interest. They’ve almost entirely ditched the post-hardcore label and have replaced it with a mixture of rock, soul, gospel, pop and punk. Predictably, a number of lazy comparisons with other bands have already been attached to Foxy Shazam, such as glam-rockers The Darkness, whose former frontman Justin Hawkins makes an appearance in the form of a guitar solo on track ‘Count Me Out’, one of the most anthemic songs on the record.
Definitely not their most daring release to date, but as Foxy Shazam step into the mainstream world, this is still a hell of a lot more bizarre and exciting than many other so-called experimental rock bands out their today. It’s also much more fun. This may be the first you’ve heard from Foxy Shazam, but it won’t be the last.
Stereoboard Rating: 7/10
Foxy Shazam – ‘Oh Lord’
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Their last LP ‘Introducing’ may have leaned a bit more in this direction, but ‘Foxy Shazam’ is a giant leap further again. It’s always good to see a band moving away from the safety of mediocrity, but this is ridiculous. However, this is almost certainly their most accessible release to date. The album seamlessly blends together a range of genres that are likely to gain the group much appeal across various circles of musical interest. They’ve almost entirely ditched the post-hardcore label and have replaced it with a mixture of rock, soul, gospel, pop and punk. Predictably, a number of lazy comparisons with other bands have already been attached to Foxy Shazam, such as glam-rockers The Darkness, whose former frontman Justin Hawkins makes an appearance in the form of a guitar solo on track ‘Count Me Out’, one of the most anthemic songs on the record. 
