Album review: STUCK MOJO - Here Come The Infidels

01. Here Come The Infidels
02. Rape Whistle 

03. Charles Bronson

04. The Business Of Hate

05. Verbal Combat

06. Destroyer

07. Worst Person On Earth

08. Fire Me

09. I Am Legion

10. Tambourine

11. Blasphemy

I've been waiting for this album for a long time. Stuck Mojo was one of my favourite bands when I was a kid. I've seen them numerous times, both with Bonz fronting the band (I'm pretty sure the first time was when they supported Type O Negative on the Pigwalk tour), and with Lord Nelson (who replaced Bonz just in time to appear on Southern Born Killers). My understanding is that the original lead singer Bonz and guitarist/main songwriter Rich Ward  just can't get on. They reunite. They break up..and repeat. Now it looks like the divorce is permanent. Bonz has his own band, and Rich Ward has the Stuck Mojo brand, and has presented the world with a new line-up and this album.

The acceptance of this new Stuck Mojo by lifelong fans such as myself will be their biggest hurdle. Everything they do from now will be compared to the classic line-up which was hugely influential on the rap-metal scene worldwide. How can you compete with your own legacy, when it is as historically significant as Stuck Mojo's, especially in a time where rap metal is out of fashion and constantly berated in the press? Couple that with replacing a legendary front-man with an unknown rapper who looks like he wasn't even born when the Mojo first started 'snappin' necks'.  It all sounds like a recipe for disaster. Drama and history aside, there's one thing you just can't argue with. A killer album, and that's exactly what we have here.

Here Come The Infidels is a pretty straight forward, no bullshit Rap-Metal album. With legendary producer Andy Sneap at the helm, there are no country covers or anything to send the album on a  tangent, just the full on Stuck Mojo sound that made me love the band in the first place. New rapper Robby J is a great fit for the band and delivers his vocals with the savage precision and vitriol that Stuck Mojo have always been known for. Frank Fontsere is still the drummer, and as expected is still a grooving powerhouse and the backbone of the band. Rich Ward is clearly still one of the best guitar players and song writers in the scene. You can hear the revitalised energy through the speakers. It's obvious that the band are having fun again, and are going at full throttle, making this the most passionate sounding Stuck Mojo album in a very long time.

The album is strong throughout and musically stands up to any other album in their back catalogue. My personal favourites are the vigilante inspired Charles Bronson, Verbal Combat, and Destroyer, the latter being one of the best songs they've ever released.

What I love about this record isn't just the return to the classic sound, but that it's a rebirth. Stuck Mojo deserves more than to be a nostalgia act. Here Come The Infidels shows that they still have a lot to offer, and I really hope we don't have to wait several more years for a follow up.