The Heavy
The Glorious Dead

It’s 2012 when The Heavy release their third full-length, "The Glorious Dead," three years after the excellent "The House That Dirt Built" and the decent EP "How You Like Me Now." This work maintains the traditional sound of The Heavy, but with some variations. First of all, the album is, in some parts, less explosive than the previous one, while elements of neo-soul are incorporated, like the frequent use of strings. Here we find 10 beautiful, fresh songs that are subtly connected to one another.

The opening is entrusted to "Can't Play Dead," which after an intro taken from the film "The She Beast" (demonstrating Swaby and Taylor’s love for old '60s horror films), starts with powerful, rhythmic rock, with the singer more unleashed than ever; the song then slows down, with the entry of strings that obsessively repeat the initial theme until the end, which becomes tiring over time. Songs like "What Makes a Good Man?" a worthy successor to "How You Like Me Now," a track in full rock/gospel style, and "Same Ol'," with a truly majestic union between electric guitar and orchestra, represent the true highlights of the album. But The Heavy always surprise us, and so we find "Just My Luck," an intense song with "soft" interludes, and a strong finale where guitars and the orchestra intone a melody that almost refers to Egyptian music. Also excellent is "Don't Say Nothing," where Swaby is in great shape and the guitar is light and almost plucked. My favorite, however, is "Curse Me Good," with a cheerful and carefree acoustic guitar that forms a fantastic melody. Not bad either is the funky version of "Big Bad Wolf," of which a version had already been released where the melody, instead of being played by horns, was entirely played by the electric guitar, on the "How You Like Me Now" EP. The overly sweet "Be Mine" and the tired and slow "The Lonesome Road" don’t fully convince. The closure is all for "Blood Dirt Love Stop," a fantastic ballad in perfect '50s style, with Swaby's voice as light and sweet as ever and the guitar sounding strong and decisive, making it all more rock.

In conclusion, I really liked the album, and although it didn’t have the energy of "The House That Dirt Built," it stood out for being, in my opinion, the most varied and complex of their brief discography. In a world, that of music, where the only real innovation is bringing the sounds of the past to the present, these guys have stood out for perhaps doing it better than anyone else; and in a world where everything, or almost everything, has already been said, and the predictability of pop reigns supreme, they always express their own take, and they are always varied and original. And, in anticipation of the next album – stay tuned and listen to What Makes a Good Man.