{"id":51875,"date":"2016-12-02T00:00:07","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T00:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=51875"},"modified":"2017-01-19T16:27:54","modified_gmt":"2017-01-19T16:27:54","slug":"album-review-enuff-znuff-clowns-lounge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-enuff-znuff-clowns-lounge\/","title":{"rendered":"ENUFF Z’NUFF – Clowns Lounge (2016) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ENUFF Z’NUFF
Clowns Lounge<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nFrontiers (2016)<\/span>
Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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There will always be a place in my heart for the mighty Enuff Z\u2019Nuff. The \u201cheavy metal Beatles\u201d are surely the world\u2019s most underrated band, having carved a career out of producing a long line of sugary sweet tunes of power pop melodies, glam rock sensibilities and hard rockin\u2019 beauty. But the last few years have seen vocalist Donnie Vie depart and Chip Z\u2019Nuff carry the name on his stoned shoulders.<\/p>\n

Imagine my surprise then to discover the American band\u2019s new album features much archival material featuring Donnie Vie, as well as one new song which I\u2019ll concentrate on first.<\/p>\n

Now in spite of his talent, Chip Z\u2019Nuff has never been a frontman for me, his rather flat tone certainly doesn\u2019t compete with his stage presence as a bassist, but with \u2018Dog On A Bone\u2019 the outfit churn out an infectious, albeit all too familiar chunk of sweetness by way of ripping Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart\u2019s classic \u2018(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone\u2019 in its chorus. The track \u2013 first recorded by Paul Revere & The Raiders 1966 and later made popular by The Monkees \u2013 has clearly inspired Chip, because after a subtle chug and solid drum nod we reach that \u201cI-I-I-I-I-I\u2019m like a dog on a bone\u201d<\/em>. It\u2019s punchy and catchy as hell as one would expect from Chip, but it does get us gagging for some new material; after all, the last full-length studio opus of 100% new material was with 2010\u2019s Dissonance<\/em>. <\/p>\n

And so we move on to the older stuff; from the 80s to be precise, when the band were demoing material around to advertise themselves. The only exception to the rule is the 2004 song \u2018The Devil Of Shakespeare\u2019 which features the late Jani Lane of Warrant on vocals and James Young of Styx on lead guitar.<\/p>\n

With \u2018Runaway\u2019 we get another bright, breezy and bouncy number \u2013 Vie\u2019s fragile tones backed up by a pleasant percussive thud. This was very much the band in \u201chair metal\u201d mode; bereft of the The Beatles-esque charms, instead we have a glammy layer. This continues with the summery \u2018Back In Time\u2019; a lump of pure bubblegum pop heaven where Vie\u2019s strained tone speaks of heartbreak \u2019neath clear blue skies. Of course, one can smell the hairspray and visualise the lipstick-covered mirrors, and this is the sound the guys made their own before maturing into something far more diverse.<\/p>\n

This becomes evident with the fabulous \u2018She Makes It Harder\u2019. It\u2019s still quintessentially glam rock, but the vocals have a more floaty presence, and with each line there\u2019s always that notion of a spectacular chorus just around the corner as the combo plods in honey-coated union. There\u2019s some fantastic solo work courtesy of Derek Frigo and that consistent nod of Vikki Foxx\u2019s drum. Indeed, it\u2019s a joyous song which pretty much sums up the joys of the Enuff Z\u2019Nuff sound, and wouldn\u2019t seem out of place on any of their albums. But that\u2019s testament as to how the guys have evolved, yet remained timeless, seemingly unaware of fads and trends to belt out their brand of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll.<\/p>\n

With \u2018Rockabye Dreamland\u2019 there\u2019s a dreamy quality; Donnie Vie is in John Lennon mode as the guitars trickle and bass bubbles. \u201cI can take you far away…\u201d<\/em> he yawns in lazy manner, but this is pure gold and stands up alongside some of Enuff Z\u2019Nuff\u2019s greatest ever songs. The guitars drive, but there\u2019s always that harmonious magic \u2013 a secret ingredient that only few bands possess to enable their songs to remain forever etched into the heart and mind.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing remotely throwaway on offer here; \u2018Good Luv\u2019 is sexy, swaggering and pulsating, \u2018Round And Round\u2019 is sauntering sleaze and \u2018Nothing\u2019 lessens the pace as an exotic, mesmerising slow burner.<\/p>\n

Clowns Lounge<\/em> \u2013 named after a strip club the band frequented in the 80s \u2013 offers up so many delights; a majority of which are instant songs to be hummed until the cows come home. Admittedly though, hearing Donnie Vie\u2019s recognisable echoes does cause the heart to crave this formation again. But like all great songwriting partnerships, there will always be friction. And while that new song is certainly of interest, this latest offering from the band is simply a reminder as to why we love them so much. Chip and Donnie \u2013 Beatle brothers until the end.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ENUFF Z’NUFFClowns Lounge Frontiers (2016)Rating: 9\/10 There will always be a place in my heart for the mighty Enuff Z\u2019Nuff. The \u201cheavy metal Beatles\u201d are surely the world\u2019s most underrated band, having carved a career out of producing a long line of sugary sweet tunes of power pop melodies, glam rock sensibilities and hard rockin\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3287],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-enuff-znuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51875"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51883,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51875\/revisions\/51883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}