English Band The Heavy claim to be from a place called “Noid.” Either their hometown is a fictional place or the band was sprung from the loins of the not so lovable Dominoes Pizza mascot. Either way the band made a splash last year in their very first SXSW appearance, and recently released Great Vengeance and Furious Fire, a furious collection of R&B influenced rock songs.
The record starts out strong, with the bluesy “Brukpocket’s Lament” a murder ballad straight out of the Delta. The song showcases lead singer Kelvin Swaby’s vocals nicely – a falsetto that falls somewhere between Prince and Al Green. The band has a healthy handle on the Blues though so it’s almost a shame when they transition to a more rock oriented sound for the rest of the album. The first single “Colleen” stands up on its own pretty well – it’s a heavy jam that works in some backup gospel over smooth hip hop beats. The low-fi production works to the band’s advantage, making the song just dirty enough to be dangerous. Similarly, “Set Me Free” takes a poppy song structure and fills it with enough Rhythm and Blues to keep it grounded.
“Doing Fine” and “Our Special Place” both bring to mind the American Blues/Rock group The Black Keys, equally in their low-fi style as well as lyrically. Overall though The Heavy do well in ducking the label “too derivative.” Towards this aim “Girl” throws a little rapping in the mix to keep things interesting and “Dignity” sounds a bit like what might happen if a Rock song and Motown song got into a fistfight. The one place where I do not agree with the band’s direction is with “In The Morning,” the songs fails to fit with the record’s overall aesthetic and sounds too close to The Black Crowes for comfort.
Luckily one song does not make or break an album, and for the most part, Great Vengeance is a very cohesive and interesting listen. In a year that for me hasn’t seen a ton of great UK imports, I welcome the fact that music is still going strong across the pond.
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