In 2019, Fozzy announced that they were readying a new album, the follow-up to their breakout 2017 effort, Judas. Three years and a global pandemic later, that record is finally here.
"We've been calling it Chinese Fozz-ocracy for the longest time," frontman Chris Jericho tells ABC Audio.
The album would eventually be called Boombox, though the Guns N' Roses reference is still probably a better name the disc's original title: 2020, aka the year no one wants to remember.
Aside from a title change, the wait between the original 2019 recording sessions and Boombox's release this past Friday gave Jericho and company a chance to "hone in on" and "sharpen" each of the album's tracks.
Making every Boombox song sound the best it could was important for Fozzy, especially coming after Judas, which gave the band their first-ever top-five rock radio hit in the title track. That opened the floodgates for subsequent singles, which Jericho has no interest in closing.
"What we've really incorporated into the sound now is the triple hook," Jericho explains. "You know, 'OK, that's the chorus. Oh, well that's the chorus. No, that's the chorus.'"
"We really focused in on doing that, which I think is very important," he adds. "Especially when you're going up against all of these gigantic bands on radio, how does your song stand out?"
Boombox also takes a new approach lyrically, trading some of Jericho's fantastical imagery of past Fozzy records for more down-to-earth, human stories.
"It's more just everyday feelings and emotions and stories that we can all relate to, and that's what real music does," Jericho says. "You can relate to the dragon stories, as well, but I just find that I'm really intrigued with this kind of new attitude about writing song lyrics."