NOFX
Heavy Petting Zoo

THE REVIEW

After their greatest masterpiece, NOFX make a very courageous decision. They could have made a second "Punk In Drublic," and sold out to MTV, a major label, and made tons of cash.
But no: in 1996 "Heavy Petting Zoo" comes out, an album softer and less powerful and fast than their previous works, and still slightly inferior to the latter. This album would then lead to the conception of perhaps their best album the following year: "So Long and Thanks For All The Shoes," a CD full of musical nuances, very fast and at the same time melodic.

This "Heavy Petting Zoo" wants to be, first and foremost, a huge FUCK YOU to MTV, the radio stations, major labels, and everyone who paid no attention to them before and now see Fat and company as a new sensational band, to be squeezed out for lots of money. But they don't care, they don't need these "tricks" to be famous. Anyway, let's get back to the CD. The beautiful opening track ("Hobophobic") seems to take us directly back to "Punk In Drublic": a brief 50 seconds of intense punk fury. However, from here on, every song seems to be immersed in a strange tranquility, even if musically similar to those of the past. It continues with "Philthy Phil Philanthropist" and "Freedom Like a Shopping Cart," melodic and very engaging. The fourth song, "Bleeding Heart Disease," which alternates the slow-fast rhythm typical of this album and has lyrics not as ironic as usual (...Happiness was killed we watched it bleed, some say it died from hate, Some say from bleeding heart disease...), is certainly the best on the record. "HotDog In A Hallway" somewhat alienates you from the rest of the album. "Release The Hostages" (fast and furious) returns to the steps of "Hobophobic." Then comes the wonderful "Liza," which continues the legendary saga of "Liza & Louise," and the defiant "What's The Matter With Kids Today?," a direct attack on all the well-behaved and perfect kids (...They disregard civil disobedience, They'd rather do what they're told... They're never late, don't smoke or break rules, They eat right, study hard, They like school...). This is followed by "Love Story," where the Californians lose themselves a bit, "The Black And White" starts with an almost Hard Rock guitar riff that then flows into their wild and splendid punk-hc, and "Whatever Didi Wants" returns to being calm and rhythmic. The album closes with "August 8th" and "Drop The World," both beautiful, the first slow, the second melodic and at the same time sharp.

An album not in their usual style, but still beautiful, engaging, also symptomatic of a desire to renew and make their albums talked about in a way never obvious. An interesting fact: the album was also released under the name "Eating Lamb" and sparked quite a bit of controversy for its cover depicting a farmer and a sheep in an explicit position.