By Kirsty Armitage
Six years after Tenacious D hit the big-screen with their rock opera, The Pick of Destiny – self-described as a “miserable failure,” – mock-rock legends Jack Black and Kyle Gass have made a long anticipated comeback effort in the shape of new album Rize of the Fenix.
Formed in Los Angeles in 1994, Tenacious D is composed of lead vocalist/guitarist Jack Black and lead guitarist/vocalist Kyle Gass. The band has released three albums – Tenacious D (2001), The Pick of Destiny (2006), and Rize of the Fenix (2012).
Rize of the Fenix is everything you’d expect to find under the cover of a Tenacious D album – a mish-mash of musical stylings bound together by a presiding rock over-note. Familiar nuances we came to love from the Tenacious D and The Pick of Destiny albums – such as the rambling explicit skits, melodramatic lyrics, exquisite acoustic guitar and brilliantly combined musical melting-pot; making Rize of the Fenix as good a comeback as any.
Leaping from the heart-pounding 80’s fest that is ‘To Be the Best’ – strongly reminiscent of 80’s ballad queen, Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Holding Out for a Hero’ – to the flamenco flavours of ‘Senorita’. Not to mention a short detour to the rockabilly riffs of ‘Hoe-Down’ – Tenacious D have refocused on the sound that made them so popular with their first album Tenacious D and the parts most loved about Pick of Destiny. Each track is so individual; I have to stop myself writing a full synopsis.
The recipe of ridiculously over-the-top lyrics (‘the fiery heart of a champion cannot be quelched,’ To Be the Best), quirky guitar work and comedy interludes, with the occasional honest moment (‘Rize of the Fenix’), glued together with the energy of Black and Gass, produces a polished rock-treat back to the glory days of before.
Some hardcore ‘D’ fans might argue that Rize is still lacking the original charm of the Tenacious D album, but it can’t be denied it’s a vast improvement on the over-cooked Pick of Destiny. The lyrics are wild and wickedly funny, but you get an occasional flutter of honesty. ‘Roadie’ is a bluesy-accolade (‘he’s changing the string / while hiding in the wings) that runs the knife-edge between tribute and taking the piss; while ‘Rize of the Fenix’ holds a clear message about the struggles they faced in getting to this point, admittedly told through the indulgently and off-the-wall story of Hollywood Jack and Rage Kage.
If you’re looking for an album that is going to set the world on fire, then please look away. This is not it. It’s just… The ‘D’. Hilarious, irreverent, shape-shifting rock-mastery. Black and Gass are two very talented individuals hell-bent on entertaining their fans on their self-proclaimed journey to ‘Save Rock’.
Leave a Reply