Words by: Julia Poholek

Buckle your seat belts, folks. FOZZY is back after a five year hiatus, and they’re stepping on the gas. Sucker-punching us with 12 killer tracks, their eighth full-length album, Boombox, showcases the best of each member’s diverse strengths. What’s more, the LP comes on the heels of a recent recognition from the RIAA — their 2017 single, “Judas,” was just certified Gold.

We haven’t seen too much of FOZZY since their 2017 album, Judas. Undoubtedly, they’ve been riding the high of that success — the album produced their biggest hit, the aforementioned titular track. After having been in the business for nearly twenty years, the group has put out a solid catalog of music for a steadily growing, loyal fanbase. Boombox finds the band currently on the road during their Save the World headlining tour. Coupled with that recent gold certification from the RIAA, we can safely assume that they’re having a wild time – in all the best ways.

This album is stuffed with an incomprehensible amount of stimuli, invoking a constant sensation of momentum. We hear this in the opening single, “Sane,” where the band basically exhales all of their pent up energy from the last few years. It’s an electrifying track that locks us into the album right from the jump. In songs like “My Great Wall,” “Purifier,” and “Ugly on the Inside,” a driving beat keeps us on our toes and anxious to arrive at wherever FOZZY is leading us. In the single, “Nowhere to Run,” we’re brought to our knees with this bruising slugger that hurts so good. We take dips and swerves in and out of catchy riffs, expertly executed by members Chris Jericho [lead vocals], Rich Ward [guitar, vocals], Billy Grey [guitar], PJ Farley [bass], and Grant Brooks [drums].

A juggernaut by all accounts, “I Still Burn,” is a song that truly knows how to carry itself as a single. It tells the story of perseverance – of being knocked down countless times and somehow finding the strength to pick yourself up and keep fighting (an appropriate theme from Chris Jericho, whose past is rooted in professional wrestling). “Creeping into my brain/This dread never goes away/Anxiety, mortality/They always get the best of me/The fear always feeds the flames/Yeah, I believe in it/Bleed for it/Sacrifice it all for it/My soul still stirs/And I still/I still burn/Even when they think I’m at my end/I get up again/I still burn.” This survival narrative is too powerful to deny – it’s a theme that so many of us can relate to, which may explain its success as it currently rises in the Rock radio charts.

Now, it’s not all about insane guitar riffs and amps cranked up to max volume. If you scavenge hard enough, you’ll see some vulnerability threaded into the fabric of Boombox – namely in songs like “Army of One,” that give us a moment to pause and connect with the sentiment of the lyrics. “This world’s gonna tell you/Who you should be, what you can’t do/Just because it’s never been done/This road twists and turns/And if you crash and burn just start again/Because the sting of a failure/Doesn’t hurt as bad as giving up.” We even get a cover on this album — a new version of the 1984 hit by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, “Relax.” The band dusts off this classic and casts a beam of metallic rock onto it, yet somehow manages to preserve the magic and lightweight nature of the original song.

All in all, Boombox might just be FOZZY’s strongest work yet. It’s an exhilarating listen from start to finish, and its closing track, “The Vulture Club,” is a heavy hitter that ends the LP with a vibrant flourish. After years of anticipation, FOZZY fans absolutely must get their hands on this triumphant behemoth of an album — and they’ll find that it was well worth the wait.

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