CRUZH was put together after the demise of Swedish glam rockers TRASH QUEEN in which both Anton Joensson and Dennis Butabi Borg played. They shared a love for melodic rock and AOR and joined forces with Tony Andersson, who previously worked as a studio musician on the never released TRASH QUEEN record. It all started in March 2013 when CRUZH was announced online. The only things shown to the public were an image of the silhouette of the three band members for the debut song "In A Blink Of An Eye", information that the band was Swedish, and the text "Get Ready For The CRUZH". The song quickly spread on the internet and both Swedish and international websites and radio stations played it and speculated about the identities of the band members. In May came the sequel "Stay", which continued in the same melodic rock spirit. Meanwhile, the band spread various clues on social media regarding their whereabouts. In the fall of 2013, the band had reached a point where they chose to “unmask” and take it all to the next level and reach out to the masses together with the release of the “Hard To Get” EP, the first of two very successful self-produced demos and received great reviews worldwide. By late spring of 2015, just when CRUZH was about to release a new EP, they were approached by Frontiers Music Srl who wanted to sign the band to a deal. Saying no to this opportunity was never an option, the deal was set and they started the album recording process by the end of summer 2015. All band members operate as songwriters and list their influences are DEF LEPPARD, TOTO, FM, WINGER, FIREHOUSE and Bryan Adams. The album I’m reviewing is “The Jungle Revolution” set for release on March 22, 2024.

Opening with the title track “The Jungle Revolution” sets the underlying pace of melodic ear pleasing riffs backed by the elegant harmonizing wrapped around a rhythmic drum progression that hovers above patiently as a tight solid guitar solo swoops in to help this song soar and spread its musical wings. With a song titled “Angel Dust” you’d better deliver a high powered, ass-kicking song and that’s exactly what they deliver as the windows rattle and the walls shake with the enthralling tempo fueled with machine gun riffing and a mixed bag of twisting vocal layering and harmonizing with excellent guitar work holding it all together, a true classic banger. “SkullCruzher” is a meat and potatoes, cold beer and partying with your buds rocking good time ripping song with a solid and aggressive gallop through simpler times when MTV actually played music, muscle cars ruled the roads and your house speakers were taller than you. “Sold Your Soul” sounds like BON JOVI with an attitude delivered like a “punch you in the gut” and an assertive, frenetic riff and tempo, all tightly wound together in a metal straight jacket. If you’re looking for an awesome “power ballad” “From Above” checks all the boxes. The first rule of sales is “end strong” and “Gimme Anarchy” followed directions beautifully with a strong undertow of searing chops all fueled by the soaring vocal presence and simmering dual guitar fretwork battle.

Hard classic rock meets melodic AOR rock best describes “The Jungle Revolution” as the best of both worlds are put in the music mixing bowl to create a wonderfully balanced, creative and banging album and I don’t even care that the book case I built just fell apart.