Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

If you have experienced life pretty much looking down on people, judging people by the way they speak, dress, dream, then it has been a waste, there is no hope for your humanity, there is no desire left in you except that of wanting more of the same. To expect deference from those to whom you might have deigned inferior, to look them in the eye and say “And who are you again?” despite having known them for years, to expect faith when you have removed all hope, it does not make you someone’s better, it just means you are nothing but someone’s Fool.

Kicking back against the establishment, making them the Fool is the only correct response, easy when they act in the manner of one, harder, but so much more satisfying when they are cruel, despotic, and out of touch with the ordinary person, for then as to King Lear, Be Fool, be seen as nothing but mad and let the reverse ridicule take effect.

For Elmo And The Styx, their second full album is one of absolute pleasures, of punk ethic, of scything down and tearing apart certain preconceptions that still haunt the genre, to tackle the misconception of the art form and place infront of the listener a set of songs that burst into life with ferocity, with abandon and pounding groove; to appreciate a call to arms is to know just how far you would fire the first salvo, how careful an aim you would take in the sarcasm and relish of taking down the Fool with intelligence and thought.

Dean Tyler, Rob Dean and J. J. Mulligan take their aggression and drive the true anti-social out, for Be Fool is enormous, it is calculated and proud. It has every ounce of venom that an album of its calibre should possess and in tracks such as Chillin’ Like A Villian, Bollywood, the awesome and stomping Don’t Like This Song and Timber, the band truly inspire and catch the listener smiling and ready to punish the Fool alongside the greats.

Be Fool, but don’t be fooled, the fusion of many different styles make this an album of huge respect, of lyrics that beat the ignorant, intolerant and the unacceptable at their own game and one of tremendous enjoyment, Elmo And The Styx once more weave magic.

Ian D. Hall