Greetings to all of you
Jericholics out there! And if you are not one, greetings to my loyal Rave Up
Music readers! As we wrap up Wrassle-Palooza,
let us take a good heaping of heavy metal awesomeness with another installment
of A Little Slice of Metal. Since we
have spent most of Wrassle-Palooza focused
on album reviews from some of the biggest names in professional wrestling, let
us focus on a heavy metal band whose lead singer is one of the best in the world
at what he does, whether it is wrestling, singing, or even being Canadian. This
is A little Slice of Metal’s look at
Chris Jericho and the amazing band known as Fozzy!
Wrong picture…though, I do enjoy his
jokes…sort of…
BAND
HISTORY:
Fozzy formed in 1999 in Atlanta,
Georgia with Stuck Mojo guitarist Rich Ward. The band was originally called
Fozzy Osbourne, a play on legendary metal singer Ozzy Osbourne’s name. The band
started out as a cover band, and was made up of whatever musicians Ward could
find in a given week. After a wrestling show in San Antonio, Texas, Ward met
with Chris Jericho and invited him to join the band. While Jericho sat in on a
few sessions, he did not become a permanent member of the band until 2000 when
he took time off from wrestling to heal a severe ankle injury.
In 2000, the band’s name was
shortened to Fozzy, and they adopted a satirical back-story in which they
signed a record contract with a Japanese record company that went out of
business. This resulted in the band being stranded in Japan for 20 years. When
they finally returned to the United States, they “discovered” that their demos
of songs were stolen by several metal acts. To further sell the band’s
back-story, all of the members took on new personas. Chris Jericho took on the
persona of Mongoose McQueen, and to further sell it, Jericho as McQueen did not
acknowledge Jericho, and acted as like they were two different people.
Soon, the band released the
self-titled debut album, containing their versions of their “songs” that were
stolen by other bands, including Dio, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest. They
released their second album, Happenstance,
in 2002. It also contained several covers, including songs from Black Sabbath,
Scorpions, and Accept, but also featured a couple of original songs.
FUN FACT: At one point in their early
career, Fozzy considered changing their name to Big City Knights.
By the end of 2003, Fozzy decided
to drop their satirical back-story and Jericho’s McQueen persona. The band
released their third album, All That
Remains, in 2005. It was the band’s first album to contain all original
tracks. The band started to see some great success; including having their song
“Enemy” served as the theme song to the WWE pay-per-view, No Way Out. After Jericho’s return to WWE in 2007, Fozzy released
their fourth album, Chasing the Grail,
in 2009 through the record label Riot! Entertainment. In 2012, the band signed
with the label Century Media, and released their fifth album, Sin and Bones, that same year. Today,
the band continues to tour the world, even with Chris Jericho doing occasional
appearances for WWE. Plans for a sixth album are in the works, and it will be
released in June 2014.
STYLE/GENRE
OF METAL:
In an interview with Wrestling
Voice Radio, Chris Jericho described the sound of Fozzy as “If Metallica and
Journey had a bastard child.” While I would say that is not an exact description,
I will say that the music of Fozzy is some of the best of all genres of heavy metal.
Some of the band’s songs have some of the heaviest, catchiest guitar riffs,
such as in the song, “Martyr No More.”
The range of metal that Fozzy
performs ranges from your straight up metal tune, like “Martyr No More” to high
energy songs like that “Spider in my Mouth.”
The last track on Fozzy’s last
two albums, Chasing the Grail and Sin and Bones, are epic long track songs
over ten minutes in length, and demonstrates the bands ability to write
long-form songs. The song “Storm the Beaches” is the tell of a soldier who is storm
the beaches of Normandy during World War II, and it has some amazing guitar
hooks and riffs, and Jericho’s vocals have the right amount of emotions in his
vocals.
What truly makes the music of
Fozzy stand out is the vocal performance of Chris Jericho. His vocals have an
incredible range and power to it. Jericho has the right amount of aggression
and energy, but never too over the top, as exemplified on the band’s cover
Ronnie James Dio’s “Stand Up and Shout.”
RECOMMENDED
SONGS:
Since the music of Fozzy covers a
wide range of heavy metal styles, which includes original songs and cover tunes,
I am going to recommend songs that demonstrates that range:
“Over
the Mountain” (Cover of Ozzy Osbourne) from Fozzy
This cover of the band
semi-namesake has excellent guest vocals from Butch Walker of Marvelous 3, and
his vocals blend nicely with Jericho’s. The song also is a very faithful take
on the original Ozzy tune, but with enough of a difference in it that is
breathes new life into this heavy metal classic.
“The
Prisoner” (Cover of Iron Maiden) from Fozzy
This great cover of Iron Maiden
shows Jericho’s vocal range and ability, and has some amazing guitar work from
Ward.
“Big
City Nights” (Cover of Scorpions) from Happenstance
As a big Scorpions fan, this is
one of the best covers I have ever heard of “Big City Nights.” The cover is
very low-key when compared to the original, but it still has the spirit and
drive of this classic Scorpions. It also features Jericho’s ability in a lower
range of his voice, in addition to his higher range.
“To
Kill a Stranger” from Happenstance
This original song demonstrates
the speed that the band can play, as well as some of the catchiest guitar solos
I have ever heard. While I do feel Jericho’s vocals are a bit more restrained
on this one, it is still an enjoyable song.
“Enemy”
from All that Remains
The theme to WWE’s No Way Out 2005 fits very nicely in the
metal music of the time period. The vocals are very melodic, and the rhythms of
the guitars lock in nicely with the drums.
“Wanderlust”
(Featuring Zakk Wylde) from All That
Remains
This song, featuring guitar
legend Zakk Wylde, is one of the heaviest tracks in Fozzy’s repertoire. Even
though the choruses are a bit calm and semi-relaxing, the rest of the song is
in-your-face, and full of great energy. And hey, at least it is better than the
“Wanderlust” by Megadeth!
“Broken
Soul” from Chasing the Grail
This song demonstrates the band's
ability to write a powerful, heartfelt ballad. The song is about redemption,
and the desire to fix one’s broken soul after having a rough life.
“Wormwood”
from
Chasing
the Grail
This epic piece of music based on
the Book of Revelation demonstrates the band to create a story through music.
It has a great, mysterious atmosphere in the beginning, but slowly builds to
full-on metal awesomeness!
“Sandpaper”
(featuring M. Shadows) from Sin and Bones
The single featuring M. Shadows
of Avenged Sevenfold is one of those songs that will get your headbanging hard.
It is full of great hooks and riffs, and Jericho’s vocals on this song are some
of the best in his music career.
FINAL
COMMENTS/ANALYSIS:
As we have seen with other
professional wrestlers in this Wrassle-Palooza
series, the transition into a music career is not an easy one. From the albums
of Hogan, Savage, and Cena, we have seen a range of music that is ridiculous
sounding to almost unbearable to listen to. With Chris Jericho’s band Fozzy,
that is not really the case. The band Fozzy has genuine talent and musical
writing ability that has allowed them to adapt and grow as musicians. Whether
it is your standard heavy metal style to a thrash metal madhouse of riffs and
solos, Fozzy seems to be able to play all styles of metal music, and play them
very well. Chris Jericho’s singing is surprisingly amazing. He has the right
amount of strength and range that complements the musical styles of the rest of
the band.
In this modern age of music, a
band like Fozzy stands out as what I call “defenders of the faith.” They bring
with them the spirit of the founders of heavy metal music, as well as bring the
pushes towards the future of metal music. Thus, I am proud to say that Fozzy is
worthy of the Metal Horns of Approval!
Kerry King and Scott Ian Approved!
For more information about Fozzy,
visit www.fozzyrocks.com for the latest
tour, album, and band news/updates.
Well, this brings us to the end
of Rave Up Music’s Wrassle-Palooza!
Thank you all for joining me for this look at wrestling’s connection to the
music industry. However, there are lot more rock ‘n wrestling to look at, so I
think we are going to do this again next year.
Next week, the blog is taking a
break, but we will return the week of April 16th, just in time for
another installment of Cover Wars!
Until then, I am Barius, and as always, keep on rockin’!
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