The Heavy : The Glorious Dead

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/theheavythegloriousdead.jpg" alt="The Heavy : The Glorious Dead" /><br /> The Heavy have hit upon a winning formula - big band neo-soul mixed with blues-rock that somehow doesn't sound...
The Heavy : The Glorious Dead
7.4 Counter
2012 

The Heavy : The Glorious Dead England’s The Heavy have hit upon a winning formula – big band neo-soul mixed with blues-rock that somehow doesn’t sound like less than the sum of its parts.  Too often combing two popular sounds of the day makes for a terrible market-driven mish-mash (see: rap-rock, or now :: shudder :: ‘metal-dubstep’).  Neo-soul has been hot for a while now (for at least one or two Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings records – QRO review), and neo-blues somehow manages to be responsible for some of the biggest names out there (see White, Jack – QRO album review), yet also is said to be “coming back.”  In The Heavy on The Glorious Dead, these two hot styles come together for something hot-hot (if not utterly inventive).

Fronted by the energetic singer Kevin Swaby, The Heavy are not a band for subtlety on songs like “Curse Me Good” or “Big Bad Wolf”, but do it with a smile on their face, ‘cause they’re having such a good time.  The Glorious Dead is a somewhat bigger album than prior release, The House That Dirty Built (QRO review), at least when The Heavy want to be, such as on big & (yes) heavy opener, “Can’t Play Dead”, or grittier single “What Makes a Good Man?”.  Sometimes this can go a bit too far – didn’t need the warning alarms in the background of “Same Ol'” – and slower, sadder songs such as “Be Mine” or closer “Blood Dirt Love Stop” just can’t match up to the animated ones.  Take “The Lonesome Road”: it’s The Heavy’s neo-soul rock hitting the garage-road – except for when it stops.

In 2010, The Heavy were the first band that David Letterman ever asked to play an encore on The Late Show (QRO Indie on Late Night TV).  In August of 2012, touring The Glorious Dead, The Heavy returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater and again did a requested encore, with Swaby even getting the taciturn Letterman on the mike during encore of House single “How Do You Like Me Now?” (Letterman: “I love you guys”).  The Heavy have the kind of energy and easily enjoyable sound that makes even sarcastic Dave smile.

MP3 Stream: “What Makes a Good Man?

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