It has certainly been a while since Tenacious D offered up anything new for our listening pleasure, and no one knows it better than the band themselves. Indeed, Rize of the Fenix was preceded by a YouTube release of an introductory video in which the duo recounted their activities since their ill-advised film project The Pick of Destiny flopped at the box office. Jack Black was shown living a life of Hollywood excess, while Kyle Gass locked himself in his basement constructing an elaborate plan of bitter revenge on his former bandmate. At the video’s conclusion the pair were reunited and vowed to record another album, rising, as it were, like the phoenix from the ashes.
Rize of the Fenix, then, is a comeback album about making a comeback album. From the opening title track, which urges fans to renew their (previously removed) band tattoos, to ‘The Ballad of Hollywood Jack and the Rage Cage’, which recounts events since their 2006 separation, the album remains wittily self-referential throughout. This includes the two spoken-word interludes ‘Classical Teacher’ – in which a world-famous classical guitarist is employed to get Kyle’s playing back into shape and things quickly turn weird – and ‘Flutes and Trombones’, dealing with a studio dispute over the band’s instrumentation. Elsewhere, the duo engage in blunt innuendo (‘Low Hangin’ Fruit’), a spaghetti western tale (‘Senorita’) and even end with a moderately serious ballad on the nature of growing old (’39′).
Of course, the album would be nothing without considerable musical talent to supplement the tomfoolery, and of course the pair offer this up in spades, especially since they have convinced Dave Grohl to return once more on drums. It has taken its time to arrive, butRize of the Fenix is a triumphant return for Tenacious D.
9/10.
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