Heavy Metal Textbooks

SHEAVY – The Best of Sheavy : A Misleading Collection

Two new Sheavy albums in less than a year’s time – I feel like it’s my birthday.  Sheavy is one of my top four stoner rock bands.  (Nightstalker, Sheavy, Solace and Wo Fat.  Why those four?  Because they’re my favorites, that’s why; just a matter of taste.)  Anybody who says that Sheavy is trying to sound like Sabbath doesn’t know their Sabbath very well.  Yes, there are a few tunes that are clearly Sabbath inspired, but just a few (Electric Sleep is clearly inspired by the first two Sabbath albums, and Last of the V8 Interceptors contains seems to be inspired by Never Say Die).  The band members are big Sabbath fans, just like so many of us.  And Steve has a similar voice to Ozzy, but no one who knows their Sabbath would ever confuse Steve’s voice for Ozzy’s.  Did you ever watch the “Simpsons did it” episode of South Park?  The main idea of the episode is that the Simpsons have been around for so many years and have had so many great creative ideas, no one should be faulted for taking inspiration from particular Simpsons shows.  That being said, I don’t think this new album sounds much like Sabbath at all.

                A short list of what’s cool about “The Best of Sheavy, a Misleading Collection”:

                                It’s called “The Best of Sheavy” but it’s all new material

                                Who the hell knows who is on the album cover?  

                                It’s really heavy

                                It does deserve consideration as Sheavy’s best album

                Evan Chalker is rapidly becoming one of my favorite guitar players.  He is extremely subtle about the way he kicks ass, but boy is he a talent!  His solos are sparse but SO tasteful.  His tone is impeccable at all times, and he pretty much always plays the perfect thing at the perfect time.  The track names are as follows:  track one is 0000000001, track two is 0000000011, track three is 0000000111, and so on (track 10 is ten ones).  I don’t think they are supposed to represent binary numbers, because the numbers would translate to: 1, 3, 7, 15, 31, 63, 127, 255, 511 and 1023.  The last Sheavy release took me by surprise and took me a while to appreciate.  This album, howev er, I fell in love with on the very first listen.  On my first listen I “favorited” eight out of the ten tracks, and by the second listen they were all marked as favorites on my mp3 player.  I would describe the sound of this album as a cross between the two previous albums, Disfigurine and Moons In Penumbra.  There is great transition between the tracks – in fact, you might think that tracks one through three were just one tune, as each just flows right into the next without hesitation.    

                Dan Moore was such a great guitar player, yet Steve Hennessey managed to replace him with a talent just as great.  Evan’s style is different than Dan’s, yet Sheavy has managed to maintain their heaviness and distinctiveness.   I am grateful that there is a band as cool as Sheavy out there, and I am hopeful that some of you will go out and support this band by picking up a copy of “The Best of Sheavy” at fredsrecords.com or allthatisheavy.com.  Sheavy should be selling out major venues, but is playing small clubs, and recording performances at a high school auditorium and a Masonic temple.  If you like what you hear in the video, check out the band’s complete discography (you will be blown away), and spread the word - SHEAVY!!!

SHEAVY is
Steve Hennessey - vocals
Evan Chaulker - guitar
Jason Williams - drums
Glenn Tizzard – bass

My Sheavy collection  (Celestial Hi-Fi and Sychronized are out of order, but I'm not taking the picture over!  I am also missing a physical copy of Blue Sky Mind – keeping my eyes open)