Rize of the Fenix is the third studio album by American rock band Tenacious D. Produced by John Kimbrough, it was released in North America on May 15, 2012 by Columbia Records.
In November 2006, Jack Black expressed wishes to take a year-long break from acting, though Kyle Gass hinted a desire for Tenacious D to end at their current highpoint.
[8] In an interview with Spinner.com in December 2010, Black revealed that the band was "about halfway through the writing process" for its new album, telling fans to expect the release of new material "at the end of 2011".
[9] In a May 2011 interview at Attack of the Show, Black announced that three songs on their upcoming album would be named "Rize of the Fenix", distinguishable by either letter or number.
[14] It guest stars Maria Menounos, Tim Robbins, Val Kilmer, Jimmy Kimmel, Dave Grohl, Yoshiki, and Josh Groban.
The band released the album without bonus tracks on April 28, 2012 on their SoundCloud account, to counteract the leaking of the music video for "Rize of the Fenix".
[18] In early 2020, as a part of virtual comedy festival COVID is No Joke, the band released a performance video for the song "5 Needs" for free.
Harris pointed out that the duo's maturity as performers was showing, noting that although it made their material less crass, it allowed them to stray from being a "one punchline joke".
[34] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave a score of 4 out of 5 stars and said "Rize of the Fenix does amount to a rousing comeback for Tenacious D: they're back to their old tricks, oblivious to whether the world at large actually cares about their shenanigans".
"[37] Likewise, Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave another favorable review and eventually said "Regardless of what the future holds, Rize of the Fenix is a splendid addition to their small but potent discography".
[39] Both the Rock-Regeneration website and The Morton Report gave the album very favorable reviews with Rock-Generation explaining that "some will say that this album was the final straw for Tenacious D", although "this is only the beginning of a new chapter for them", and with Chaz Lipp from The Morton Report that "after a six-year break, JB and KG return to rock your socks off" and that "Rize of the Fenix will make a great soundtrack for the summer of 2012".
[43] Zach Redrup of Dead Press gave a rating of 8 out of 10 stars and said "Tenacious D are still the band who once wrote the best song in the world, forgot about it, and remembered it again when confronting Satan himself".
[47] Similarly, Culture Tease gave it a 6/10 by saying that the album "has brief hints of pure pop/rock perfection, sat uncomfortably between driveling songs that never quite stick" and that they have "improved dramatically here from their previous efforts", but "the D is really only successful in sporadic bursts, and even over 40 minutes their just tiresome as hell.
[50] Rob Sayce of Rock Sound gave it a 7/10 by saying "If you hated their previous works this won't change your mind, but ‘Rize...’ should satisfy fans, providing guilty chuckles by the truckload".
[52] Maura Johnstone from Rolling Stone gave the album 2 out of 5 stars and viewed it as "so bombastic you wonder if Black and Gass have finally turned into the overblown wanksters they parody" and reproached that "too many of its gags sound like they've been festering since the Pick of Destiny days".
[53] August Brown from the Los Angeles Times gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars and saying "When sincere rock music is DOA on the charts, is it too late to wonder whether the D is the genre’s last true defender?".
[55] Kirk Baird of Las Vegas Weekly gave an unfavorable review by saying "Rize of the Fenix plays like warmed-over D, far from 2001's brilliant self-titled debut.".