Album Review: Crazy Lixx - Two Shots At Glory
Reviewed by Lana Teramae
Within the past 20 years, there’s been a resurgence of ‘80s hair metal music, especially in European countries. Some have captured the true spirit of that decade, while others fell flat and lacked the sincerity of their predecessors. Crazy Lixx falls into the former category, thankfully. Since their debut album, ‘Loud Minority’ (2007), they’ve stuck to their winning formula of writing catchy and melodic stadium rockers that take listeners back to the good old days. Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
‘Two Shots At Glory’ is a compilation album featuring “reimagined classics” from Crazy Lixx’s catalog and a few brand new tracks to please the fans. For the record, the new versions aren’t dramatically different from the original versions. They just enhanced the production to polish them up a bit. So, no acoustic renditions like how Bon Jovi made their songs completely unrecognizable on their ‘This Left Feels Right’ (2003) album.
Formed in 2002, ‘Two Shots At Glory’ celebrates Crazy Lixx’s 20+ years in the music business. The band lineup includes Danny Rexon on lead vocals, Joél Cirera on drums, Jens Anderson on bass guitar, and Chrisse Olsson and Jens Lundgren on guitars.
For those that haven’t heard a lick of Crazy Lixx, they’re basically Poison, Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Warrant, and Def Leppard blended into a smoothie together. Think flashy guitar solos, big backing vocals, pounding drums, infectious melodies, polished production, and a vocalist that resembles Vince Neil during his prime time. They genuinely love ‘80s hard rock music and it’s obvious when listening to this compilation album.
Tracks like “Fire It Up,” “Riot Avenue,” and “Church of Rock” were meant stadiums. New classics like “Invincible” and “Sword and Stone” are insanely catchy and filled with melodic hooks galore. “Only The Dead Know” is the big power ballad that would’ve received heavy rotation during MTV’s heydays. And despite not knowing what the heck “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” means, it is a banger!
The downside is that there’s not enough variety on ‘Two Shots At Glory.’ Most of the old songs are from their ‘Riot Avenue’ (2012) album, there’s nothing from ‘Loud Minority,’ and the band completely ignores their last three studio albums. For a compilation release that supposedly celebrates Crazy Lixx’s 20+ years together, it only covers about four years of their career. That’s the problem with some of these greatest hits and compilation albums; they only focus on certain eras and ignore the rest of them. If it weren’t for the new tracks, fans are better off buying the ‘Riot Avenue’ album. However, ‘Two Shots At Glory’ is good for those that want a brief intro to the band without spending a lot of money buying their entire catalog.
The album will be released through Frontiers Music Srl on February 16, 2024.
‘despite not knowing what the heck “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” means’ – really?
It’s army jargon for the letters W.T.F., short WTF, commonly known as What The Fuck?
🙂