Fozzy – All That Remains

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SPV
Produced by Rick Beato

The story of Fozzy is an odd one. Led by American wrestling superstar Chris Jericho (Irvine) and Stuck Mojo guitarist Rich Ward, Fozzy were originally invented as another soap opera storyline for the wrestling TV public. The story goes something along the lines of Fozzy were a huge rock band in the late 70s but were exiled to Japan by their record company for 20 years. During which time young upstarts like Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest and Scorpions stole Fozzy’s music and released it as their own in Europe and America, becoming huge. Now Fozzy have returned from exile to reclaim their music, forever proclaiming “We Are Huge Rock Starsâ€�. Or something like that.

In keeping with the story, Fozzy recorded an album of classic rock covers by Ozzy, Dio, Maiden, Priest, Scorpions, Twisted Sister etc. (plus two originals; Jericho had always wanted to be a rock star). They also recorded a mockumentary DVD about the band’s exile. A little later they recorded a second album, Happenstance. Again, mostly covers, but this time with five originals.

All That Remains is the third album by Fozzy, but is the first ‘real’ one. On the others the band wore wigs and had comedic stage names. This time, they’re using their real names and getting on with it properly, as a real band. The album comprises all original songs, a couple of guest appearances and so on and is accompanied by the bands first real tour and their first single and video, Enemy. With Chris being constantly occupied with the WWE, writing and recording a Fozzy album is almost entirely handled by Rich. Chris simply jets in, sings some stuff and jets off again. Consequently, one or two of the songs on the record were actually originally recorded by Rich with his previous band Sick Speed, The Test and The Way I Am even appearing as Sick Speed versions on their only album The Way I Am.

The album starts in strong fashion with Nameless Faceless, one of only two songs from this record Fozzy played on their recent UK tour. An excellent and very heavy riff and a strong performance from Chris opens the record with a great metal spirit. Enemy follows. It opens with a very modern sounding, melodic part, and quite soft vocals from Chris. It gets heavier for the chorus which is perfect catchy single material, but retains its aggression and defiance. Before Enemy has had much of a chance to fade Wanderlust crashes in. The vocal delivery on this one has more of a white-rocker-rapping delivery. Think Tommy Lee on his album Never A Dull Moment. Then all of a sudden the heavy guitar gives way to a light, almost poppy chorus, before resuming the heavy verse riff. The high point in this song is the first if many guest appearances by excellent current artists. The man doing the honours on this one is Zakk Wylde shredding on the second solo of the song (Fozzy guitarist Ryan Mallam handling the first).

Title track All That Remains starts very softly (although the bass and drums are pretty loud) but possibly the best chorus on the album follows soon enough. A great performance from Chris on this one and guitar solo duties this time handled by producer Rick Beato. The Test slams in with a fantastic riff. Anyone that knows the Sick Speed version will notice that this is almost no different at all. The Fozzy one doesn’t have the samples, but otherwise, it’s identical. A great song, nonetheless.

The second (and my personal favourite) guest appearance of the record turns up on It’s A Lie, with rapper Bonecrusher (think Busta Rhymes, if you don’t know him). It works very, very well and adds a new dimension to what would otherwise have been a pretty standard metal song. Daze of The Week starts heavy, the vocals on the verse are poor. The chorus vocals are more melodic, but don’t stand out as Chris’ best performance. Solos handled by Ward and Mallam.

Sick Speed song The Way I Am drops in with heavy bass and light guitar melody before getting heavy with a scratchy riff and more traditional vocals from Chris. The chorus is another sing-a-long one, identical once again to the Sick Speed version. Three solos in this song make it something quite special for guitar fans. The first one Rich does and the third one is handled once again by producer Rick Beato. Its the second one that’s special: Mark Tremonti, Alter Bridge and Ex-Creed guitar hero turns in a terrific performance. The liner notes say Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge also appears on the album, but doesn’t say which song he’s on. I haven’t been able to pick him out yet, but a safe assumption would be that he’s on this one with Mark.

Lazarus continues in a similar vein to the rest of the album, but unfortunately, the album ends on a bad note. Born of Anger is easily the worst song the band have recorded so far. The vocals try to be too aggressive and come across as a very nu-metally growled rap. The only possible saving grace is the last of the guest performances, in the shape of a Marty Friedman (Ex-Megadeth) guitar solo.

Overall All That Remains is a good metal album. It has a different sound to anyone else out there (except Sick Speed, obviously) and the performances are mostly very good, Rich Ward in particular. It’s live they excel though. Let’s hope Chris gives up this acting lark with the WWE and turns to metal full time. Meanwhile, we have The Duke album to look forward to (The Duke is Rich’s nickname and he’s going solo following the new Stuck Mojo tour under that name with full on melodic rock – check www.dukerocks.com).

“ great metal spirit ”

Tracklist: Nameless Faceless / Enemy / Wanderlust / All That Remains / The Test / It’s A Lie / Daze of The Weak / The Way I Am / Lazarus / Born of Anger

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Heavy Metal, Fozzy