Still don't care about the MCU thank you don't @ me Wanna know the real reason I don't have any friends? It's not because I'm an alcoholic or because I'm not entirely sure what a toothbrush is or because my King Diamond impression is terrible. No, it's because I just flat out don't fuckin' care about superheroes. I liked 'em as a kid, sure, but the last comic book/superhero movie I've seen in theaters was... I dunno, Spiderman 2 back in 2004? The current glut of superhero mania has left me completely cold and apparently locked me out of all social functions for the past 15 years simply because I just can't bring myself to give a single shit about the latest colorful explosion of glittery Marvel puke all over every screen in the universe.
So with that in mind, it was a no brainer for me to zero in on the debut Frenzy album, Blind Justice, when I got my latest batch of promos. An obvious reference to Daredevil, presented with an album cover clearly designed to evoke memories of classic comic books, with song titles that are all obvious allusions to other comics? Fuck yeah, I get to be smug and dunk on nerds for a few hundred words again. Score!
Imagine my disappointment when Blind Justice actually wound up being... good.
Yeah I'm actually kinda mad that I like this, because all signs point to this being a low-effort snoozefest attempting to capitalize on a trend that apparently won't die, but dammit Frenzy is actually really damn solid. On the surface this is just regular-ass heavy metal with no adventurous songwriting, but beneath that this is just... well, regular-ass heavy metal, but the safety in cliche manifests more as simple confidence in what they're doing with no frills or unnecessary window dressing. I wish there was more to say about it, but there really isn't. Frenzy just plays what has been nominally played out for decades but they do it with a lot of style and bravado that makes it akin to comfort food.
This is 80s to the bone, with songs spending about half the time in a double bass frenzy of the fastest that Judas Priest and Dokken had to offer, with the other half being more traditional mid paced stuff akin to Accept or Iron Maiden. So their influences are all the most obvious bands you could imagine, but they play with a lot of style and sheer black-toothed attitude so it really doesn't matter. The vocalist is clearly the highlight here, and it's for something that I haven't actually seen anybody else mention. Namely, his higher register sounds just like Klaus Meine in his prime. I may not be the biggest Scorpions fan in the world, but there's no denying that Klaus has got some fuckin' pipes on him, and Anthony Stephen here channels him brilliantly. Check out "Save Me", it's absolutely undeniable. The rest of the band is solid as well, with the guitarists keeping things entertaining enough, though only really stealing the show on the closer, "Shred or Die", which is about six and a half minutes long and I swear nine minutes of it are taken up by nutso soloing.
So that's really all there is to this. This is a short one because fuck dude, what do you want me to say? It's solid heavy metal that we've all heard a million times before but it's energetic and raucous enough to be a fun listen on occasion. I'd really love it if I went the rest of my life without encountering one more piece of media that shouts how awesome Batman is at me, but the confetti explosions of "Waiting on Your Call" and "Killing with a Smile" are cool enough for me to stomach it this time. The more anthemic singalong like "Save Me", "We are the Future", and "Mad Ball" are fun and catchy, while the speedier assaults like "Blind Justice", "Velocity", and "Shred or Die" are a whirlwind of exciting cheese. Blind Justice is nothing truly special, but it's certainly better than it has any right to be.
RATING: 79%
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