Photo Credit: Nils Sjöholm
If you ever needed proof that the ‘80s never truly died, Thrill of the Bite is the irrefutable, iron-clad, smoking-gun evidence, swaggering into 2025 with more leather, hairspray, and fist-pumping bravado than Motley Crue on the Sunset Strip in their pomp.
Crazy Lixx have been carrying the torch for high-energy, melodic sleaze metal for years, but here, on their first album in four years, has them kicking the doors down, flipping the table, and roaring, “Rock n’ Roll will never die!” right in your face.
From the very first second of Highway Hurricane, this thing does not let up. It’s got the kind of swagger that makes you want to grab a leather jacket, jump on a Harley and head straight for the neon-lit horizon. Danny Rexon’s vocals are as massive as ever, flipping between streetwise grit and full-throttle arena bombast like he was born to do this – and let’s face it, he was.
Then there’s Who Said Rock N’ Roll is Dead, an absolute monster of a track that somehow lands somewhere between early Def Leppard, prime Skid Row, and a gang of sunset-strip hoodlums in leopard print who just stumbled out of a whiskey-soaked time machine. Build around an outrageous chorus and a guitar solo which would slot into any 1980s action movie.
And just when you think you’ve got the album pegged, along comes Call of the Wild – a fast paced, moody chest thumping party anthem dripping with menace, proving that Crazy Lixx aren’t just here for the good-time singalongs; they can tap into that dark, sexy, dangerous side of the genre just as well. Meanwhile, Run Run Wild throws a bit of early Bon Jovi into the mix, built for blasting out of car stereos with the windows down and cruising by the shore looking for love.
Hunt for Danger sums up everything Crazy Lixx are about. This song is oozing melody. It’s got the riffs, the hooks, the gang vocals that force the listener to scream along at full volume. It’s the sound of a band who know exactly what they do best and are cranking it up to 11, with a tumbler full of Jack Daniels, without a care in the world.
The only thing missing from the album is the standard ’80s style stadium-sized power ballad. It’s a genre staple as well as a Crazy Lixx faithful, but this time out they are all pedal to the metal and no lighter-waving, slow-dancing, heartbreak-and-hairspray moments – almost breaking the 80’s sleaze glam rock law.
The production is absolutely pristine. And the performances are insanely tight with unapologetically massive heaps of attitude.
Thrill of the Bite is everything you want from a Crazy Lixx album and then some. It’s a love letter to the glory days of the glitter and glam rock ‘n’ roll excess of a generation gone by, delivered with enough conviction to make you believe that it never really went away. If you’ve ever craved a record that makes you want to throw on some spandex, tease your man perm, step into a classic Mustang and live like it’s 1987, this is it.
8/10
Standout Tracks: Hunt For Danger, Little Miss Dangerous, Call of the Wild.
For Fans Of: Motley Crue, Skid Row, Crashdiet
Written by: Eric Mackinnon
