Sunday 30 April 2017

Album Review: CRAZY LIXX - Ruff Justice

Crazy Lixx - Ruff Justice


01. Wild Child
02. XIII
03. Walk The Wire
04. Shot With A Needle Of Love
05. Killer
06. Hunter Of The Heart
07. Snakes In Paradise
08. If It's Love
09. Kiss Of Love
10. Live Before I Die


Anyone who knows me knows of my love of 80's Heavy Metal, Glam and Sleaze Rock, and Crazy Lixx clearly love it too! Over the last decade, we've seen a resurgence of this kind of music with the image to match, mainly played by guys from Sweden, most of whom are blatantly too young to remember the scene the first time around. The interesting thing is that most of these new(ish) bands are better than the 80's bands they're clearly influenced by. The irony is that this music which is associated with Los Angeles and hot summer nights is now being created in the coldest, darkest reaches of Scandinavia. Among the best of these Scandinavian Retro-Hard Rock bands are Reckless Love, Hardcore Superstar, Santa Cruz, Crashdiet, H.E.A.T and, of course, the mighty Crazy Lixx.

If there's one thing I love as much as 80's Heavy Metal, it's 80's Horror films (check out my top 20 Horror movies here), especially the Friday 13th franchise. When I heard that Crazy Lixx were contributing new music to the forthcoming Friday 13th computer game, I was extremely interested to hear what they'd done. The tracks XIII and Live Before I Die were released on YouTube a few months ago, and they fit with the Friday 13th franchise like steak with potato wedges, as they complement each other perfectly. They were also two of the best songs I've heard from Crazy Lixx, capturing the energy, drama and sound of 80's Heavy Metal perfectly, so I decided to buy the album on its release day without a second thought.

Having been a Crazy Lixx fan since their awesome second album New Religion came out, I always look forward to their new records, but since hearing the aforementioned tracks, this one was clearly going to be extra special. There's a third song from the forthcoming Friday 13th game called Killer, which I hadn't heard before. It's another winner in a trio of Horror splendour, with a slow and sleazy riff that effortlessly serves as the ideal soundtrack to Jason Vorhees stalking some thirty year old teenagers around Crystal Lake. Other 'killer' tracks include opener Wild Child, which is anthemic Hard Rock at its best and sets the tone for the album perfectly, preparing your ears for the following onslaught of amazing Retro-Metal. Shot With A Needle Of Love would have been a massive single if it had been released in 1989, but in fairness, the same can be said of any and every track on this magnificent opus.

Everything about this album is fucking cool. The album sleeve artwork with the compulsory shot of the band leaning against a sports car, while wearing shades on the back of the booklet. The disc itself even has the numbers in squares just like the CDs of days gone by used to. If you loved the 80's, this album not only brings you some perfect nostalgia, but improves on what went before. In other words, it sounds like how you remember the 80's, as opposed to exactly how it was, providing a wonderful lick of paint. Ruff Justice does what it says on the tin, and it's a tin of exactly what I wanted.


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