Posted on: December 18, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

Foxy Shazam! Plays a brand of music that I in no way expected from their white-heavy, washed-out cover. This is a brand of punk mixed with the double-bass of a band much heavier (French Passion of Animality Opera). Tracks begin and end before a listener can blink, and the rapid-change style of the band is reminiscent of acts like System of a Down, Voltaire and Temper Temper. The SOAD comparison is made clear during “No! Don’t Shoot!”, a track that has Serj-like vocals (done by Eric) and a harder-edge to the backing instrumentals. In a way, “No! Don’t Shoot!’s” delivery skirts the edge of odd-core bands like Atom and His Package and Gnarkill than any of the aforementioned band; in the latter two bands as well as Foxy Shazam! there is a distaste for structure that allows for much larger latitude in movement.

Each of the tracks on The Flamingo Trigger showcase a different facet of the band as well as being completely different stylistically from the tracks that immediately precede and follow it. For example, “The Aroma of You, Out There” recalls Blind Guardian as the same as time as it takes up the standard previously held by The Darkness. The music on “The Flamingo Trigger” is not done by a set of individuals trying to garner the largest audience possible, but really are solid examples of whatever genre Eric, Skylyn, Loren, Sky, and J find themselves in for that brief section of time. Each of the tracks may destroy the borders that divide rock from soul and country, but are acceptable to fans of all genres encompassed by Foxy Shazam!.

“The Flamingo Trigger” is one of the most encompassing discs that I’ve heard ever. This is what a rock-opera should be, as tracks tend to go back at times to earlier songs, creating a very visible thread that permeates the entirety of the disc. Where Green Day’s “American Idiot” was lauded for an all-encompassing approach to music that really only allowed them to vacillate between slow, whiny tracks and the same sort of pop-punk that they have been pandering for over a decade, Foxy Shazam!’s approach is as varied as modern classics like “Sgt. Pepper’s” or “Tommy”. The rich production and diverse sounds that emanate from “The Flamingo Trigger” will be enough to ensure that listeners will continue to listen and draw different things from this, a debut album that sounds like a veteran act’s magnum opus instead of an introduction.

Top Tracks: Brains of Vegas pt. 2 , No! Don’t Shoot!

Rating: 7.6/10

Foxy Shazam! – The Flamingo Trigger / 2005 Self-Released / 10 Tracks / http://www.foxyshazam.com / [email protected] / Reviewed 04 May 2005

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