While I was expecting something in the vein of CRASHDIET or HARDCORE SUPERSTAR, which both present to me the high and mighty of the new and young generation of Swedish Hard Rock / Glam Metal, CRAZY LIXX changed my perception about the actual and hard attitude of some of the local scene. While running in the same field as their country peers, THE POODLES, these guys unleashed a well crafted 80s oriented Hard Rock with only a few hints of Metal. For some reason I have always pictured CRAZY LIXX as a little than the tender type I witnessed on their new album, "Riot Avenue", via Frontiers Records yet as it seems, they seem to resemble more to DEF LEPPARD and AC / DC than to MOTLEY CRUE. Have they gone a little conservative? Don't think so. Even so their music deeds are still cocky, with some sexy sense and highly Americanized in their commercial end product.

Pretty much identical to the sound production of the latest THE POODLES albums, CRAZY LIXX shared a type of a thin sound pattern, which from my end should have had a little more depth to it, yet in a way it suited them nicely. As for the material, CRAZY LIXX seemed to be less provocative on this release than usual and of course it had an influence on their riffing, gain rates and an overall line of music that tended toward melodic Rock. I have to admit that it is not even close to their earlier releases where their naughty features met a hard form of Glam Metal.

Nonetheless, on this album CRAZY LIXX wrote some great songs bearing quality riffing, which is very accessible, amazing vocal performance, sweet lead guitar licks and tight Rock rhythms. The funny thing is that with all my talks about wanting to explore the heavier side of Glam Metal and Hard Rock, my favorite track on the album is "Only The Dead Know", that is the album's ending swan song. Such elegance is hard to achieve and CRAZY LIXX played it big time with smooth simplicity that won't put them to shame. Ounces of emotions were spilt around this song like running blood and I am sure that the dead already noticed.

On the other hand, I couldn't let you guys go with s few other recommendations out of this album like "In The Night", "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" and "Heatseeker". CRAZY LIXX proved with "Riot Avenue" that there is price for playing something a bit more elegant, and believe me, it didn't hurt them at all. Maybe it's a maturity phase.