Album Reviews

Damn, what is this about? Foxy Shazam is a Cincinatti-based fivepiece who like to party and write songs in which anything goes. Think of a hardcore band with a weird fascination for Freddy Mercury and Andrew WK. The lead roles are for pianist Schuyler Vaughn White and the slightly over the top vocalist Eric Sean Nally who sounds soulful at times yet starts to sound equally obnoxious after several songs. And where normally everyone in the band is restrained by a tight rhythm section, here those dudes happily join the merry crew in writing songs that are all over the place.

Sometimes it works though. "The Rocketeer" is hardcore before sounding like something that is best suited for the dancefloor with piano chords . But two songs later there's "The Science Of Love" which starts off like an 80s Stevie Wonder ballad before turning into something Faith No More would've written on a less than inspired day."A Black Man's Breakfast" is an enjoyable gospel/soul song but next up is "It's Hair Smelled Like Bonfire" which wants to go out with a bang but ends up sounding like My Chemical Romance on acid and speed.

There are some interesting ideas here but "Introducing..." is simply too inconsistent and chaotic to keep me interested. Fans of HelloGoodbye or Mr. Bungle might want to take a chance but Foxy Shazam might prove too loud for the fans of the former and too mellow for the fans of the latter.