The Heavy And The Glorious Dead

There's neo-soul and then there's neo-SOUL...and I'll give you three guess which the The Heavy are. Straight out of the heart of Memphis via Bath, UK comes this dirty, thick, and groove laden group of musicians who only know one thing...that good music comes from the heart. Armed to the teeth with enough low end and grooves, The Heavy sound like the best Southern Soul band to emerge from a 40 year coma...ever. Their third album, The Glorious Dead picks up exactly where The House That Dirt Built left off. This is the filthiest and purest record to ever emerge from the city known more for it's Roman Bath Houses than soulful rock and roll.

The Glorious Dead essentially takes the template that the Sonics invented way back when and then lops a massive helping of pure soul on top of it. The results are a punky, disheveled record that oozes emotion out of every pore and sweats more than Right Guard could ever hope to handle. This is awesome stuff that has an angry spirit about it and once it kicks off never slows down. The Heavy have made a remarkable effort here and The Glorious Dead ends up loaded with groove after groove neatly arranged in an order that will leave your feet begging for mercy and your ears begging for more.

When The Who coined the phrase, Maximum R&B little did they know that The Heavy would be the living embodiment of that sentiment nearly four decades later. Taking Sam & Dave and mixing them with garage rock is what The Heavy sound like and as a result this is a band that doesn't know how to play at any less then 200% maximum volume with 1000% maximum effort. Whether it's a ballad or a rocker the band have the simple desire to leave you in tears but with a smile on your face. These guys are unbelievable and an anomaly in a sea of mediocre neo-soul wannabes. The Heavy and their album The Glorious Dead are living proof that raw, uncompromising, emotional music will always be the best kind of music. It might be 2012, but The Heavy clearly never got that memo because in their hearts and minds it's still 1968; this is a very, very good thing.