The French band Toxxic Toyz was founded in 2003 and their debut F.E.A.R. was released in 2007, now 3 years later it’s time for Mutation.

Bang is simply an intro leading into Racing The Clock, a fast tune which combines power metal with thrashy riffs and complex elements. Singer David McBee (ex-ShockOpera, ex-Teer) has a powerful, slightly raspy voice. A good opener incl. technical guitar playing and an emotional guitar solo. The following Chaos is far from being chaotic! Here they offer tempi changes, but it’s David’s vocals which ennobles the tune. He reminds me of someone... The opening of Time For Action shows some references to traditional heavy metal, then a progressive passage before then head into a riff-based metal tune. The tune has an 80’s vibe, even if heavier as most of the stuff which was released back then. Some passages remind me slightly of Sortilège... And with twists and turns they can keep the listeners interest - even for 7+ minutes. At other songs they use short spoken word passages and even aggressive vocal parts, don’t expect screams or shouts. Bassist Tomy leads you into The Plague, another sonic roller coaster ride where everybody gets the chance to shine. Slowly they kick off In The Garden, you can hear the wind blow accompanied by guitars. A bluesy track which shows reminiscences to Whitesnake, the balladesque tune is another facet of Toxxic Toyz. The following Reasons For Our Fall is another up-tempo tune. It’s interesting that Mr. McBee picks put the line ’in the garden’ for the refrain which hooks you up easily. The closer is the title track Mutation, guitars in the opening part are a bit annoying, but luckily the song changes and a memorable riff is taking over. Okay, the hidden track at the end is... well, you get a short a cappella version of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. More a kind of joke then a true outro, but you can always switch off before it starts. ;)

Anyway, the Nice-based band takes different elements to create their songs. Sure, it isn’t something completely new, but it’s fun to listen to. Fans of power metal as well as melodic speed metal should give it a try. Some parts are quite complex without heading too much into progressive metal. I can just recommend to check out Toxxic Toyz!