Sheavy "Republic?" (Rise Above)
By Taylor Green
Friday. Sep 23, 3:06 AM
Heavy shade of black (Sabbath).

I normally try not to get into albums the first time I listen to them, but with Canadian rockers Sheavy's latest release, Republic?, I found myself bobbing my head to the beat by the second track, "Hangman." Sheavy truly rock out on this album old school, a blazing 11 tracks of a modern version of ‘70s metal. And therein lies the problem.

When coming up with a name, Sheavy may have thought to call themselves White Sabbath, because the Black Sabbath vibe is rampant. In fact, if I didn't know better, I may have bought that this was a later era Sabbath release. But if you've read or know anything about Sheavy, that information is well documented by now. Sheavy, if anything, are a continuation of Sabbath's routine, but with a much lighter spin on the music. The tracks are traditionally heavy, but not dark or gloomy as Sabbath so toned the genre. Rather, Sheavy have a more desert rock influence from the other giants of the origins of metal, Led Zeppelin. The riffs on tracks like "Spy vs. Spy" and "Standing at the Edge of the World" are chock full of traditional Sabbath flare, and with frontman Steve Hennessey's vocal approach, it's hard not to write this band off as a Sabbath rip off. Hell, the guy even SOUNDS like Ozzy half the time.

However, Sheavy's atmosphere is definitely not a complete draw of Black Sabbath. In fact, their atmosphere is more like Fu Manchu or Clutch than the dark side of Sabbath. More so, Sheavy sound to me like what I'd expect out of modern releases by Tony Iommi or even Geezer Butler's band. And to Sheavy's credit, they do a much better job than any of the members of Sabbath are currently doing. It's tough not to listen to Sheavy and think Tony Iommi's riffing with Bill Ward and Geezer Butler jamming behind him. But is that such a bad thing?

Highlights: "Spy vs. Spy," "Standing at the Edge of the World," "Stingray Part III."
www.sheavy.com
www.riseaboverecords.com

Taylor Green

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