Do You Wanna Start a War is Fozzy’s sixth studio album that has the band on the brink of breaking into mainstream rock radio. Some of the early die-hard fans of Fozzy’s previous work such as All That Remains and Chasing The Grail may be in for a shock. Most of Fozzy’s work has had a flavor of power and prog metal, but Do You Wanna Start a War goes in a completely different direction. The latest release features some songs that are poppy, some that have a mainstream rock sound, and others that are thrashy. It’s an album of various flavors.
The album kicks off with the title track, which goes in the industrial rock direction. It clearly makes a statement that Fozzy is not just a metal band anymore and can try new things. The next song “Bad Tattoo” goes into a direction that most fans are familiar with, using the trashy double kick drums from Frank Fontsere and crunchy guitars from Rich Ward and Billy Grey. The album seems to be made to be played at random. There really isn’t a “flow” from start to finish, which really isn’t a bad thing. To contrast, Chasing The Grail and Sin and Bones were made to be listened to from start to finish in order. The third track “Lights Go Out”, the lead single off of the album, is made for a broad rock audience. The rest of the album is a mixture of some rock, metal, and a few ballads placed in. The album includes a fantastic cover of ABBA’s “SOS” before ending on a high note with the track ”Witchery”.
Overall, it’s a good album from guys in Fozzy, but not their best. Vocalist/lyricists Chris Jericho continues to show versatility in his singing and not sounding like an Ozzy Osbourne clone. Guitarist/lead song writer Rich Ward is still hammering solid riffs and solos. The band obviously doesn’t want to keep releasing the same album over and over, and six albums in, it was time for a different approach. Only time will tell if Do You Wanna Start a War was the right approach to take.
KEY TRACKS: Bad Tattoo, SOS, Witchery
You can purchase Do You Wanna Start a War here.
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