Fozzy's first serious album All That Remains is eventually going to be recognized as one of the metal masterpieces of the '00s. What utilitarian musical genius Rich Ward and killer vocalist Chris Jericho (in bands since 13; wrestling came later) hath wrought on that thing... well, having them back is cloud-busting. And what have we here? Fozzy have bravely moved forward, or laterally as it were, Chasing The Grail tossing like Chinese darts both positives and negatives o'er the 11/10 last, but intrigue, mainly. So yeah, Chasing The Grail is interestingly more melodic, and there's even a ballad or two, one of them, gorgeously southerny, the other creepy Depeche. It's also weirdly synthetic, in terms of studio trickery, which seems to be something applied to both vocals and the tornado percussive flood of hits to the body. But the beauty of this hugely crafted metal spread is the gaping maw of dynamics, which gives it a relentless epic-ness. Forget that there's an actual 13 minute epic on it, hell, much of it's a proggy blast at the face, from 'Under Blackened Skies' to 'Pray For Blood' and back again. And let's ponder that all of this actually doesn't add up to ballerina power metal. No, bloody Rich is to classic and doomy and rhythmic and all sorts of things (political, iron-pumping) that add to his raging musical genius. Chris nails it as well, when he says that this is a form of pounding metal with melodic vocals. And come to think of it, his love of Helloween, then - really, then - Priest or Maiden, man, it's massaged in like a fine stain on teak. Frankly, my first few spins of this accentuated the above negatives, but after a few headphone-immersed revisitations, there are some bold, mature, 'I Am, I'm Me' qualities to this album that are missing from the (well, I still think it's somehow heavier) All That Remains. So man, gotta go, but Fozzy should be... what? In this day and age, how big can you be? They should be in packages with Testament and Machine Head, basically, because of the high intellectual execution and taste and lyrics and vocals and the whole package of inspired metal-making all over this thing, melody bravely infused, critics of that be damned.