Heavy Glow and the Midnight Moan – Album Review

Heavy Glow

On June 23 of last year I profiled Heavy Glow on the New Band Palace. It is sheer coincidence that I am bringing the band back on the blog today. Something about June and Heavy Glow, I guess. Never heard of Heavy Glow? Click on their name above for last year’s post on the three-man hard rock group. Their new nine-track release Midnight Moan treads the line between hard blues rock and heavy metal. But not the heavy metal that you may immediately think of. Heavy metal traces its roots back to the late 1960s when blues rock and psychedelic rock collided and formed a genre of massive sounds and heavy distortion. The genre immediately focused on heavy guitar and hard drumming, hence heavy metal. Heavy Glow, an apt band name, is just that. They play to the sounds of the progenitors of the genre, i.e. Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. Yes, their music is highly modernized. Heavy Glow uses several recent distortion techniques and the electric hard guitar sounds much more like recent metal guitar than early 70’s rock, but they are familiar with their roots, even experimenting with some acoustic blues at the end of the album.

Right out of the gate Heavy Glow demonstrates their grasp of classic rock blues. “Lose My Mind” entraps listeners with its traditional blues feel mixed with a hard-hitting rhythm and a clean, but raw solo. I particularly enjoyed its shortness. The song only takes up 2:45 of the album. Like a book’s first sentence, the first song of an album should be representative of the material you will experience throughout and it should be intriguing. “Lose My Mind” makes you want to listen to more.

Track two, “Slave Dance,” is modern blues/metal. The riff is effectively slow and monstrously well struck. It is a pump-up riff that acts as a drawn-out head banger, a perfect compliment to the celerity of the first song. “Slave Dance” develops small verses and more rock experimentation culminating in a planned solo attack that acts as a solid firework before the song’s ending.

“All My Money” which falls in the fourth spot on the album is the most catchy track and I will mark it as my favorite because of its carefree rock flavor that is refreshing when you are trapped in a sea of near-metal explosion. Check it out:

While track four may be my favorite, I particularly enjoyed the last few tracks on the album, where Heavy Glow decided to experiment with some old-fashioned acoustic blues, an unexpected but welcome transformation from the modern heavy rock we hear at the album’s outset.

“Smithereen” is an unusual tune, melancholic but melodious. The acoustic guitar work is appreciated and vocals are not to shabby. By the way, the following track “Midwestern Lullaby” is a 1:42 pure instrumental treat and it leads into the plus seven-minute finale.

Solid effort by the young band and an enjoyable album indeed.

Check out and buy the album:

www.heavyglowmusic.com

Tags: Heavy Glow, Music