ALBUMS THAT WILL F*CK YOUR FACE OFF IN 2012: CRAZY LIXX, RIOT AVENUE

Crazy Lixx
Riot Avenue
Label –  Frontiers
Release date – April

It’s been a million years since L.A.’s Sunset Strip hosted a massive glam metal scene. But with red hot Steel Panther and blockbuster Nickelback as testers, maybe the people have spoken, fun is fun again, and the time is right to import Sweden’s budding movement of ace hair rockers to the States. At the moment, their best is Crazy Lixx, whose big, shiny sophomore album New Religion (2009) is basically the best Def Leppard record since ripped jeans.

For Spring’s Riot Avenue, fans might expect less Adrenalize and more High ‘N Dry cuz Lixx frontman Danny Rexon predicts a rawer, riffier sound and more up-tempo jams to go with the addition of second guitarist Edd Liam. And since Riot arrives on Italy’s Frontiers Records, fans can also bank on cover art at the cutting edge of eye-baffling cheese (see here and here and here and here and shit here too). Song titles so far include “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” “Young Blood,” “Riot Avenue,” “Church of Rock,” “Fire it Up,” “Only the Dead Know.”

-ADF