When Chris Jericho rose to stardom in the WWE (or WWF as it was then) rings of the late 90’s he burst through the exciting, dangerous, Extreme (Championship Wrestling) influenced times of the “Attitude era” as a firebrand, risky, exciting loud-mouth. His intro hit, the arena darkened, and there he stood, mic in hand with everyone on the edge of their seat. In the ring, he’d go Hardcore, Lion-saulting around, adding to the unpredictable chaos that was pro-wrestling at its best. And he was one of the best.
Yet, fifteen years on, the WWE product has become boring, while Jericho’s own character turns up every few months for a run of cheap pops and some same old same old, the impulsive inspiration gone, as the five-moves-of-doom are performed with safety paramount – and we’re not talking safety in terms of not doing ridiculous things with barbed wire or smackdowning someone with a steel chair to the head (that is completely understood) – but in terms of stories, angles, match content and arcs.
And so Chris Jericho and his Heavy Metal Roadshow, Fozzy, return for album number six, Do You Wanna Start A War? (Century Media) and that theme of safety is prevalent again as they run through another slew of disposable rock/metal/groove tunes that scream WWE Metal. When Stuck Mojo (from which band guitarist Rich Ward and drummer Frank Fontsere originate) released an album with a wrestling belt on the cover maybe it wouldn’t have been a huge leap to see them penning pro-wrestling entrance theme and Pay-Per-View music in their future.
For that is what Fozzy is; safe, obvious, predictable music that suits being played over promos of uninspiring wannabes oozing testosterone at each other. Do You Wanna Start A War? is interchangeable with any number of Soils, Drowning Pools, Salivas, Black Label Societys or Shinedowns with its obvious grooves and you-know-what’s-coming-next choruses.
Jericho’s vocals are decent, even if you can hear the auto-tune at times, and there is a bit of schizophrenia abound as they flit from heavier grooves to trying to be radio hits, succeeding on the feel-good ‘Tonite’ which features Steel Panther’s Michael Starr but overall, even in the realms of mainstream more commercial rock/metal, there are plenty more doing it better.
File under “alright” and spend your time listening to something more worthwhile. Like the new Woven War.
5.0/10
STEVE TOVEY