Metal Underground.com

Despite the album title, I had a feeling when I listened to Crazy Lixx's "New Religion" that I was going to be transported back to 1985, and boy was I right. If the band's name isn't enough of a hint, the opening track, "Rock And A Hard Place" instantly takes you back to the world of 80's glam, with its poppy drums, high male vocals and Slash-like sleaze guitar. While I confess I love my glam, "New Religion" didn’t excite me; there are some fun tracks, but they all sound exactly like something you heard 25 years ago.

The intro guitar in "My Medicine" is nearly a direct take from Poison's "Nothin' But A Good Time," "Lock Up Your Daughter" is almost identical to "The Boys Are Back In Town," and there are plenty of others that reminded me of tunes whose names I just couldn't place. Still, Danny Rexon's vocals are a good mix of Def Leppard's Joe Elliott and Jon Bon Jovi, and for the most part the tracks are fun, in spite of their cheesy rhyming lyrics and dated material. But considering that all these guys, with the exception of new guitarist Andy Dawson were born right around the beginning of glam, their music style comes as no great surprise.

One track that stands out is "She's Mine." This one is total glam rock, heavy on the suggestive lyrics, and while it may be more for the "Cherry Pie" crowd, the reason I like this one is the killer Jerry Lee Lewis inspired keyboards. It may be a silly song, but it's fun.

Unfortunately the other stand-out track is the 45 second instrumental piece "Desert Bloom," which is a blues track that sounds like it was accidentally left off the "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack. It doesn't lead into the next track, it isn't long enough or solid enough to stand on its own, and the abrupt change in style is an idiosyncrasy that leaves you wondering what it’s doing there.

Bad material aside, I will say that with the exception of the annoyingly repetitive, cymbal happy drums provided by Joel Cirera, the rest of the components are solid. I like Andy Dawson's (formerly of Sharp) mix of shred and sleaze, and Loke Rivano does a fairly good job at ensuring the bass doesn't get covered up in the mix. I'd like to see these guys put out another album, hopefully that doesn't rely quite so heavily upon the music of their childhoods.