Above average crossover of Kill em All-era Metallica and the Ramones with a healthy dose of Vandals styled humor to keep things rolling along. Hailing from the quietly prolific Dutch scene, Fixation shows a lot of promise, both with excellent guitar playing (the riffs and solos from "Misantropy" are to be envied by early Metallica) and a wide range of stylistic changes that keep this album from becoming dull. Occasionally Reiner de Wit's vocals are a bit too flat to work with the music, but on the whole that's just a minor problem; otherwise his thick voice is great for the material. And apparently these guys have a healthy sense of silliness, as "Satan Ate my Pickup Truck" will indicate. (Naturally that song gets the Satan Stole My Teddybear hearty seal of approval.)

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 10/1997

Back to top