The Heavy
Great Vengeance and Furious Fire
Counter
The title of The Heavy’s introduction to the world of label land invokes mental images of a Jheri curled Samuel L. Jackson, eyes wide and spewing biblical verses at a man he’s about to shoot. Great Vengeance and Furious Fire, when thrown on the stereo, continues the ’70s soulful exploitation film/Tarantino vibe that its title inspires. Any band that can get me thinking about Pulp Fiction is a band worth listening to!
This British import hails from the countryside of Bath, though the music sounds as if it were dredged up from the dirt and grime of a big city red light district. Steeped in the sexual falsetto of a dude named Swaby, and layered deep with soul and funk rarely played with as much conviction as The Heavy manages, these ten songs accomplish what a band like Louis XIV hinted at over the course of two full albums.
Not every song reaches levels of brilliance, but even when this band takes cheeky chances, as on the slow candid rap of “Girl,” it’s still sincere enough to end up adoring.
The opening half of this album is the strongest. “Brukpocket’s Lament,” “Coleen,” “Set Me Free,” “That Kind of Man,” and “Doing Fine” would have made one flawless EP. Though the second half loses a bit of its punch, this album is still one fierce release.
The Heavy: http://www.myspace.com/theheavy73
