Musical Style and Critical Reception
During the first years of their career, Fenix TX had to struggle hard with their reputation as a Blink-182 rip-off. The Daily Athenaeum went so far as to refer to their 1999 album Fenix TX as "a very good Blink-182 album". However, other than the shared musical genre, the two bands have little in common. Due to Fenix TX's dual guitar employment, they are able to create a more complex guitar accompaniment. Also, at a time when Blink-182 relied heavily on a rudimentary guitar/bass/drum arrangement, Fenix TX made an effort to integrate other instruments, such as trombone and trumpet, as well as unconventional vocal techniques into their sound. This allowed the band to touch upon other music genres such as ska punk and hip hop, as heard in the songs "Skinhead Jessie" and "Apple Pie Cowboy Toothpaste". The latter includes a rap originally appearing in the 1984 comedy film Revenge of the Nerds. Yet, the typical Fenix TX song features an energetic — yet pop-friendly — distortion guitar-driven sound, paired with fast-paced but melodic vocal patterns. Lyrics are conventionally a mix of political, personal, and occasionally comedic topics, as heard in the songs "Minimum Wage", "Ben", and "Rooster Song", respectively.
For Fenix TX's second recording effort, the quartet took the initiative to try to distinguish themselves from its peers. The resulting album, 2001's Lechuza, was basically split into two parts, with half of the songs written by Salazar and the other half written by Lewis and DeLaPaz. This organization resulted in a slight shift in musical style. Though a tad edgier than before, Salazar's songs were largely in the vein of Fenix TX's previous material, featuring at times comical ("Phoebe Cates" - referring to actress Phoebe Cates and her legendary pool scene in the teen movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High), romantic ("A Song for Everyone") and generally positive themes ("Abba Zabba"), combined with the band's traditional sound. Lewis' and DeLaPaz' songs, on the other hand, were musically far more metal and hardcore-influenced and commonly featured gang vocals and more aggressive lyrics. While songs such as "Something Bad Is Gonna Happen" stand out with a very crisp lead guitar sound and a high-pitched guitar solo by James Love, "Beating a Dead Horse" (the only Fenix TX song primarily sung by Adam Lewis) contains screamed vocals and an overall hardcore feel.
Due to this stylistic disparity, Lechuza was not as well received by fans and critics as Fenix TX. In particular, the band's attempt at composing a hardcore song ("Beating a Dead Horse") elicited a great amount of criticism. In addition to the album, the band's live performances were largely discredited for their leanings towards alternative metal, rather than a pop punk style. Yet, the loyalty of many fans outweighed the disappointment over the album, though a third full-length effort by Fenix TX would have continued in a harder direction, as the member's post-breakup projects featured material that was originally intended for the follow-up to Lechuza.
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