Review FOX LAKE “New World Heat”

Listening to the latest release from Fox Lake is like taking a trip down memory lane. There are certainly cross-references to the bands that defined groove metal, nu metal and crossover in the 90s. The opener, “For the Love of the Game (featuring Mugshot)”, showcases the main ingredients right from the start. This aggressive song reveals its power immediately. After a few spoken words, a massive groove attack challenges your eardrums. The above-mentioned genres fuse to create a sonic monolith that echoes the force of nature itself.

This is the starting point for 31 minutes of excellent power and brutal grooves. The hip-hop structures of “Freestyle (feat. AVOID)” combined with dense riff power are as impressive as the subsequent blast of “Go 4 the Throat”. While listening to this album, which has the well-chosen lead single “Pure Adrenaline”, bands like Hatebreed, Biohazard and Downset come to mind. You can’t help but start jumping and slamming around when you listen to these songs, and there’s a lot of adrenaline pumping through your body.

The middle of the album features two songs that barely hit the one-minute mark. “Real Fast” is exactly that. The band plays fast, bringing the song to an end in a little over a minute before “h a l f t i m e” sounds like a crossover version of the seventh inning stretch. ‘h a l f t i m e’ is an atmospheric interlude that contrasts with the rest of the album. It is a calm moment on an album full of raging music.

‘Savior’ is another lead single and a hardcore/hip-hop hybrid that unfolds with massive energy, making it a perfect fit. Fox Lake don’t slow down in the second half of the album, and with the hardcore/metal fusion of “Gut Check” they present another jump-around song, handing over the baton to “Excessive Damage” The latter is the thunderous finale of the album. Fox Lake have placed another stunning groove metal track at the end of their album, providing a fitting conclusion to the previous tunes.

Fox Lake bring a lot of 90s groove to the present day. “New World Heat” draws inspiration from the hardcore/metal/hip-hop crossover of the past and brings it into the 2020s. “New World Heat” is a song that will make you jump, whether you like it or not.