Album review: ENUFF Z’NUFF – Finer Than Sin

Frontiers [Release date: 11.11.22]

If there’s any band that just keeps on keeping on, it’s Enuff Z’Nuff.

The band has undergone enough line up changes to fill a Wikipedia page, yet the man who started it all, Chip Z’Nuff is still there, front and centre.

Finer Than Sin is the band’s 17th studio album. And we have to say it’s a bit disappointing to see the label’s PR focusing almost entirely on the band’s late 80s, early 90s releases.

Yes, they are a band with a past and an uncertain future, but Finer Than Sin, along with recent albums reviewed by GRTR!, Brainwashed Generation (2020) : “full of the band’s sonic signatures – unexpected chord changes and meticulously crafted hooks.” And Diamond Boy (2018): “designed to shift the commercial emphasis onto a new generation of rock fans,” are rock solid EZN releases.

The dark shadows in ZNuff’s music and lyrics always seem to prevail. His fragile, whispering vocals, on the very Beatlish anti drug song, ‘Catastrophe’ are very clearly aimed at the band’s now departed vocalist, Donnie Vie.

The atonal and discomfiting ‘Steal the Light’ is constructed using a similar blueprint. Not as strong melodically, but with the same barbed message and same target.

Elsewhere and on a brighter note, ‘Intoxicated’s beautifully descending bass line and satisfying chord shifts carry an elegant, heart stopping melody that would turn Cheap Trick’s head.

And then on ‘Disconnected’, ZNuff pushes his vocals into corners never before navigated. They’ve been criticised for not adapting to changes in the musical climate, yet their quite deliberate drift from powerpop into a harder rocking style seems to go unmentioned by the music press.

That said, The ‘Strawberry Fields’ era pop psychedelia of ‘Hurricane’, driven by synth strings and a sweet sounding harmonium, probably makes it the standout track.

This is not the best ever EZN album, but it’ll do just fine until the best ever EZN album comes along. ***1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)