Fozzy is an eighties rockband formed by professional wrestler Chris Jericho and alternative rockband Stuck Mojo. Both Jericho and Stuck Mojo consider their cooperation as a welcome diversion from their professional careers. This gets clear when you take into account the large number of covers on their debut and forthcoming album. Especially for this band, the members took on some weird pseudonyms like Moongoose McQueen, Duke Larue and KK Laflame. They even claim to be captured by a Japanese record label, preventing them to leave Japan for twenty years. Forthcoming album Happenstance is their second album and is released in Europe on July 1 (US July 30).

The album is a rather strange collection of originals and covers. This is of course explained by the fact that this band is primary a hobby for the members. I feel it’s a pity the band didn’t take a little bit more time to write some more songs. Especially because their own songs excel the covers by far. The album starts most promising, with three new songs. Opener ‘Whitechapel 1888’ is a one-minute orchestral theme that sets the mood for both ‘To Kill A Stranger’ and ‘Happenstance’. These are strong melodic tracks. The voice of Jericho is very powerful and I really like the multiple voiced parts that make this song quite catchy.

The title track is very varied, calm music is alternated with some heavy nu-metal. The next three tracks are covers of eighties classic bands; Judas Priest (‘Freewheel Burning’), Black Sabbath (‘Mob Rules’) and The Scorpions (‘Big City Nights’). Although there is nothing wrong with these tracks, they just don’t seem to reach the level of the first three tracks.
There are two more original tracks on the disc; ‘Crucify Yourself’ and ‘With The Fire’. The first is by far the most interesting track. This song just seem to have it all; strong rhythms, a lot of variation, occasional grund and solid instrumentals. It’s a shame the band ‘forgot’ to write a proper ending to a song like this.

Although my expectations of this album weren’t very high - this band does not lack arrogance shown by their claim to be the greatest metalband in the world – I must admit that the original songs on Happenstance pleasantly surprised me. The lack of unity on this album will probably prevent me from listening regularly, but it is clear to me that Fozzy has great potential. Hopefully next time the band will take the time to write an entire original album.