Uriah Heep
Raging Silence

THE REVIEW

There was a time when David Byron, Mick Box, and Ken Hensley painted wonderful hard rock frescoes, with the epic veins of a masked and delicate progressive. A personal and unique style that elevated works like "Salisbury," "Demons & Wizards," and "The Magician's Birthday" to cult objects (and masterpieces) of seventies rock. Works that contributed to making Uriah Heep famous and sweeping away doubts that had eclipsed their beginnings, as a band "in the shadow" of the giant Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath.

This obscurantism towards the band has, over the years, combined with setbacks that have undermined the stability of Uriah. The departure of bassist Gary Thain in 1975 and his death by heroin overdose in the same year: the departure of singer David Byron in 1976, who later died in 1985. Subsequently, other innumerable line-up changes, particularly behind the microphone (Lawton, Sloman, Goalby) until the arrival of Bernie Shaw, after the album "Equator," considered by many as the worst work ever produced by Uriah Heep. Amid all this, the farewell of keyboardist Ken Hensley, one of the most important elements for the band's songwriting.

Mick Box and the group shattered by all these events had to rise again and start over and Bernie Shaw was the figure that provided stability: certainly less gifted than Byron, he nonetheless demonstrated the ability to adapt to the new course of Uriah Heep, which saw the five Englishmen shift from the progressive and epic hard rock of their beginnings, to AOR and more easy-listening solutions initiated with "Abominog" (1982). A stylistic direction that is largely present also in "Raging Silence," the first album with Shaw on vocals, released in 1989.

The Uriah Heep of the '80s were not exciting: some interesting works, but nothing compared to the seventies episodes that launched them despite the aversion of some music journalists. "Raging Silence" was yet another attempt to recover and redeem a career that started superbly, was quickly slipping away. However, the considerable difficulties did not stop the "new" course of Uriah, who in "Raging Silence" poured their way of making music, naturally changed from the past. A CD that within their career has also been defined as "anonymous": admitting that the level is certainly not that of the past, one must not underestimate the importance of a work that primarily aimed to bring Uriah Heep back to a certain level, after going through hell. Highlights of the album are "Blood Red Roses," "More Fool You," and the ballad "When the War is Over," where Bernie Shaw demonstrates his good vocal skills.

The roar of English rock from the '70s has always had its darkest and less "studied" peak in Uriah Heep. "Raging Silence" was the album of the "return." For this alone, it has an intrinsic importance that should not be underestimated. The album in which the survival instinct fully manifested itself.

1. "Hold Your Head Up" (4:33)
2. "Blood Red Roses" (4:10)
3. "Voice On My TV" (4:21)
4. "Rich Kid" (4:49)
5. "Cry Freedom" (4:35)
6. "Bad Bad Man" (4:11)
7. "More Fool You (More Fool Me)" (3:34)
8. "When The War Is Over" (5:09)
9. "Lifeline" (4:53)
10. "Rough Justice" (4:22)