Proud Shame – Heavy America (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Heavy_AmericA_coverDespite being the product of modern day Boston, Heavy America have a sound that links together points in time and places on the map from a much wider and deeper musical palette. Alternative rock is a pretty broad term but in the case of Heavy America it is a dark and moody rock core, built of slow burning meandering builds and incendiary dynamic shifts. It is then shot through with sleazy Doorsian menace and drifting desert blues, a slightly retro psych-rock touch and some Sabbath-esque drama. Throw in a bit of musical swagger and garage rock rawness and you have the perfect musical storm. And all that in under 4 minutes!

Back in the day, when the debut Sabbath album first blipped on the rock and roll radar, this sort of music would have been considered heavy metal a genre which has has long since become something else, something overplayed and over complicated, swapping technique of emotion somewhere along the way. But strip things down to their bare essentials, slow it right down and this is the essence of the genre, though such a label will cause a lot of confusion amongst todays skinny jeaned, sleeve-tattooed keepers of the flame. But if you want to know what heavy metal is really all about, forget the unnecessary outer trappings, this is what its soul sounds like.


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