Album Review: Foxy Shazam - "The Heart Behead You"

 

It's weird to think that there was a time about 12-13 years ago when people were genuinely talking about Foxy Shazam as being the next big thing. Tipped by some as the American version of the Darkness, it unfortunately proved to be a bit of an anvil around their necks - not only were they actually a very different proposition from Justin Hawkins and co but their breakthrough album The Church of Rock 'n' Roll turned out to be a big disappointment, sounding more like a poor man's Electric Six than anything. One further effort, Gonzo which saw them roping in Steve Albini on production (which must be one of the most unlikely collaborations he's ever done) and actually come up with a half-decent effort and they were no more.

The group still command an impressively large following to this day though and The Heart Behead You is their second effort since returning (2020's Burn being their comeback). And to be fair, it isn't a bad effort. Possibly they've benefitted from now being free of the expectations originally attached them which they arguably had no chance of living up to and opener Heart is what you'd imagine the Struts might sound like if they suddenly developed an obsession with Purple Rain era Prince. Decidedly odd but it somehow manages to work. Only Love is even better, sounding like a glammed-up take on an old Elvis ballad which packs the requisite amount of soul to fly nicely and builds to a big conclusion complete with horn section - you can just envisage lead singer Eric Nally urging audiences to get their lighters out for this one.

It's not quite all plain sailing throughout - there's a couple of numbers like Fall Into The Night where Foxy Shazam sound like they're phoning it in a bit or the piano led funk effort Kingdom Come which is a brave idea that just doesn't quite work plus at just nine tracks (one of which is the one minute opener), it does feel like they could've packed a couple of extra songs in here to give the listeners a bit more bang for their buck. But those are more than balanced out by the brilliantly OTT rush of Dancing With My Demons (which sounds oddly like Justin Hawkins covering something off the Grease soundtrack!) or the soulful glam balladry of Love Rush Ecstasy. Overall The Heart Behead You isn't a bad effort at all and I'd even go so far as to say it's arguably Foxy Shazam's most consistent album to date. Who knows, we might just make glam rock superstars out of them yet.

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