Lost your password?

Crazy Lixx — Thrill Of The Bite (Frontiers)

For lovers of sleazy 80s-styled rock, nothing says Valentine’s Day quite like a new Crazy Lixx album.

And a typically passionate play for the hearts and minds of dyed in the wool hair metal fans hits all the right notes.

Thrill Of The Bite is the musical equivalent of a first teenage kiss around the back of The Mayfair.

It sets pulses racing and promises the world.

There’s a raw appeal about the hot-blooded riffs and steamy lyrics at the heart of Crazy Lixx’s best work here.

Then there’s dreamboat Danny Rexon: in his more than capable hands, a typically ardent love letter to Leppard, Crüe, RATT et al never sounded so persuasive.

It’s four years since Street Lethal reminded rockers of Crazy Lixx’s impeccable credentials.

But the Swedes’ eighth studio release (we’re not including the remix-heavy Two Shots At Glory) surpasses expectations with ever-present Rexon revelling in his role as ringmaster.

There’s nothing game changing or genre-defying about Thrill Of The Bite… and that’s this album’s tungsten-level strength.

Its tried and tested formula hits like Cupid’s arrow for anyone who plastered Poison, Guns N Roses or Skid Row posters all over their bedroom walls while dreaming of a hot date with Lita Ford or Lisa Dominique.

Rexon and co. don’t try to reinvent the wheel — they repeat every hair metal trick in the book and emerge with a record that’s like testosterone on wax.

Let’s face it, the gift of Crazy Lixx is so much sexier than a lame bunch of flowers or box of cheap chocolates for that special rocker in your life.

Thrill Of The Bite‘s just jaw-dropping

Crazy Lixx have never even tried to hide their influences during a ‘blink and you missed it’ two-decade career.

In fact, they’ve always worn their hair metal hearts on their sleeves.

Loud and proud lovers of all things late 80s pop rock, the men from Malmö were doing spandex-fuelled pastiche long before Steel Panther.

But Danny Rexon does it because he really means it.

And since 2007’s patchy indie debut — the ‘lost classic’ Loud Minority — the Scandi crew has evolved into a lean and mean riffing machine.

Whether Thrill Of The Bite beats Rushonrock fave Ruff Justice remains to be seen.

That 2017 banger was MTV-fuelled bubblegum metal, bottled. Just brilliant.

But with the Leppard-flecked Who Said Rock N Roll Is Dead and Midnight Rebels, Rexon and his buddies might just have hit their sweet spot.

Four of the line up responsible for Ruff Justice remain in the Crazy Lixx ranks and, truth be told, it shows.

This is a red hot unit supercharged for 2025 behind 10 brand new and brilliant tracks.

Little Miss Dangerous belongs on Alice Cooper’s Trash and Hunt For Danger is the husky power ballad Sebastian Bach must wish he’d chanced upon 35 years ago.

Of course they’re preaching to the converted — but it seems Crazy Lixx can do no wrong.

Get your teeth into Thrill Of The Bite and you’ll find yourself feasting on some of the finest soft rock this century.