Tracklist:
1. Fight For Yourself
2. Wild Blood
3. We're Rebels
4. Screaming At The Wall
5. XXX
6. Wanderlust
7. World Of Trash
8. Break Free
9. On Our Own
10. Savage City
It feels like it's Friday already and it might as well be! Day off tomorrow followed by partying on Friday night is time well worth waiting for. I'm in weekend mode and tonight it punk-rock night! This time I'm taking a look at "Fight For Yourself" by Canadian punks Zex. Zex initially released their debut album on their own and it passed me by. Thankfully, Magic Bullet Records has reissued it. That cover on it's own is awesome, so I can only imagine what the record itself it gonna sound like! If you like good old heavy metal and the sort of punk that gets a buzz in Maximum Rock n Roll, read on.
Prior to this review, I head the pleasure of listening to some 80’s hair metal and glam rock. This fits perfectly alongside that. The female clean vocals and traditional heavy metal guitars are great. The title-track is a raucous, singalong punk anthem that sets the bar high for the rest of the record. I love the intro to Wild Blood. Those riffs are excellent and begs the question: why hasn’t this appeared on Guitar Hero yet?. The twin harmonies and solo are crying out for air-guitar loving! Zex channel the essence of The Ramones and even a sniff of Rancid on We’re Rebels, but they seem to hold more credence than the latter in my opinion. Things get a bit dramatic on Screaming At The Wall, when Zex abandon the noisy punk vibe in favour of something a tad more sedate and ballad like. Don’t worry though, it’s still loud and upbeat. The production and mastering on Fight For Yourself is goddamn perfect too. XXX is gloriously rich yet still sounds like it’s being performed in a basement of garage. This a catchy punk at it’s best. This album just gets better and better. You may think I’m exaggerating here but Zex seem to turn up the melody and party vibe on Wanderlust and World Of Trash. You just don’t hear enough music like this anymore. The gang shouts on Break Free add more loudness to the record and make the whole damn song more infectious. I’m buzzing, can you tell? It’s rare these days that an album can be this catchy and fun to listen too. I think I’ve been listening to too much macho hardcore for too long now. Penultimate number On Our Own carries the momentum on with a real sense of urgency. Savage City could describe any city in the world right now, but it succeeds in making you forget about all of the trouble and strife that we’re plagued with and that alone is a victory for Zex. I can’t speak highly enough of this record and hats of to Magic Bullet for bringing to ears of more people. Now, when are playing the UK?
Stream and download Fight For Yourself via Zex's bandcamp page here:-
Physical LP's and CD's can be purchased from Magic Bullet Records here -
http://www.magicbulletrecords.com/mailorder.html.
Zex Facebook -
https://www.facebook.com/zexzexzexofficial
Magic Bullet Records Facebook -
https://www.facebook.com/magicbulletrecords
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