And 7 for the Swedes of 'Crazy Lixx' who released a new studio record, 'Street Lethal', at the beginning of November, after the two very good albums 'Ruff Justice' in 2017 and 'Forever Wild' in 2019 which gives a cruising rhythm of one opus every two years. No surprise, they continue in the path traced in the previous albums, distilling good energetic and melodic hard-rock making us go back to the 80s. 11 tracks in total for 44 minutes of listening time, and if we take out the two instrumentals, the short introductory track 'Enter the Dojo' which, in a Nipponese atmosphere, raises the pressure with the sounds of organs and 'Final Fury' which serves as an interlude in the middle of the album, we are drawn into heady melodies with varied rhythms starting with catchy tracks displaying great energy, and this starting with 'Rise Above' (see video above) and those 'Def Leppard'-style backing vocals, then, with 'Anthem for America' (see video here) that follows, which pays homage to hard-US, but also with the heavy mid-tempo 'The Power' with its marked tempo conducive to headbanging or with the well-muscled title track. Other more moderate compositions are closer to AOR with the melodic gem 'Reach Out' (see the video here) or with the bouncy 'Caught Between the Rock n' Roll' or with the catchy 'One Fire - One Goal', not forgetting the album's power ballad 'In the Middle Of Nothing' to be added to the best hard-rock ballads. To note that at the end of the album, 'Thief In The Night', gives the beautiful part to the guitars in the introduction and in the second part with always very accessible melodic lines.
In summary, even if the Swedes of 'Crazy Lixx' does not revolutionize the melodic hard-rock, they continue, album after album to offer us hits in spades that make us go back to the best of the 80s and 'Street Lethal' does not deviate from the rule and should please a wide audience loving a hard-rock with melodies that are immediately grafted in the head... | |
