...Very 'Eavy ...Very 'Umble signed to that label. The album shows the band trying out various genres a mix of heavy metal and progressive rock rather than the hard rock that they would become known for on later albums. Tracks 3 and 8 were recorded as Spice songs prior to the band's renaming as Uriah Heep, and featured session player Colin Wood on keyboards. When Ken Hensley joined Spice in late 1969, the tracks were not re-recorded. The album was generally panned by the mainstream critical press upon its release, although it has since been acknowledged as an early classic of the heavy metal
Heavy metal lyrics freedom of speech argument. Heavy metal has been the subject of critiques from "music industry watchdogs and parents’ groups for its violent, drug-related, sexual, antisocial and occult lyrics". During the 1980s, the PMRC, an advocacy group which was against the alleged presence of negative themes in popular music, used music professor Joe Stuessy to testify against metal. Professor Stuessy alleged that heavy metal songs focus on violence, substance abuse, perversion, S&M, and Satanism. Walser analyzed 88 metal songs' themes to determine if Professor Stuessy’s claims were valid. Walser found that the themes Stuessy claimed were common in metal were actually