The Heavy
The House That Dirt Built

It's 2009 when The Heavy release their second album, "The House That Dirt Built", probably their most famous work, thanks to the big single "How You Like Me Now?". Compared to the previous record, this one leans more towards funk and R&B, and is also more rock, moving away from the hip-hop influences present in some songs of "Great Vengeance and Furious Fire"; but let's proceed in order.

This album I've practically worshipped, given that I own it both on CD and vinyl. Inside the CD there's an image that makes me reflect on the meaning of the title of the album; there are indeed images of Native Americans, which, given that singer Kelvin Swaby is descended from one of the first Indian families to move to Britain, makes me think that the album's title refers to the settlers who drove out and killed the Native Americans to build cities. "The House That Dirt Built", indeed. However, I haven't found any evidence of my theory on the internet, so I might have said something really foolish.

Returning to the music, after a rather eerie intro of a few seconds, where a voice says "...Don't go in the house, because people that live there aren't people anymore; don't go in the house, but if you do, don't say we didn't warn you..." a wild "Oh No! Not You Again!!" kicks off, a short but explosive track leaning towards garage rock, which actually has very little to do with the rest of the record; according to Swaby in an interview, the lyrics talk about his relationship with marijuana. Then comes "How You Like Me Now?"; on the countless TV appearances of the song much has already been said, the song itself has a very James Brown-like rhythm and is probably the masterpiece, and I'm not exaggerating, of The Heavy's discography. Next is "Sixteen", another single from the album, a beautiful funky song, with a brief guitar solo in the middle. The main melody is sampled from Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell On You". The lyrics talk about when Swaby, working in some clubs as a DJ, would see sixteen-year-old girls behaving as if they were thirty, and imagined they were possessed by the devil. "Short Change Hero", another famous track in their discography, after a "western" intro starts with acoustic guitars, which are then joined by strings, accompanying Swaby's always fantastic voice. "No Time", the last single, is one of my favorite tracks, very rockish. On the same level is "Long Way From Home", a bit slower and leaning towards blues. After a good, but underrated, "Cause for Alarm", we find "Love Like That", probably the weak link of the album, which doesn't convince at all. "What You Want Me To Do" instead is a slow and heavy rock with a catchy chorus. At the end, we find another gem, "Stuck", a beautiful piano-guitar ballad.

The album is certainly the most varied and successful by the band so far and shows how these four English guys know how to blend different styles and genres and, above all, to evoke the sounds of the past like very few can on today's music scene. Let's hope they continue to surprise us fans.