Album review: The Heavy “The Glorious Dead”

Interview with Dean Marino from Papermapstext: Greg Sheer

The third full-length release from British five-piece The Heavy, finds its roots, once again, drenched in soul and R&B, dripping with funk, and strung together by straight-forward rock and roll. The Glorious Dead builds on the group’s previous two albums in a way that’s as honest as it is raucous. And we do mean the latter.

The Heavy’s a group wont to rock the train nearly off the rails, and tracks like opener ‘Can’t Play Dead’, ‘What Makes a Good Man’, and  ‘Don’t Say Nothing’ deliver, with sinister guitar hooks gelling to bass-heavy percussion, all layered under screaming horns, and lead singer Kelvin Swaby’s fevered bayou croon.

The album’s title evokes thoughts of a New Orleans-style funeral procession, with tracks like ‘Lonesome Road’, a down-tempo meandering swing tune, or ‘Blood Dirt Love Stop’ the slow-boiling waltzy album-closer, as dirges. And in fact, if those tracks are setting the tone for a march to the graveyard, the rest of the album might well be the backdrop for a debaucherous soiree with the recently departed, when you get there.

The Glorious Dead is a wicked concoction, and a solid addition to The Heavy’s repertoire, albeit well within their comfort zone.