Uriah Heep Very 'Eavy Very 'Umble

WAIT WAIT, Hold the Phone. Before we continue marching through the decades of metal I forgot what we haven't covered in the origins of heavy metal series! So just pretend this article is back with those other ones please.

So right... Uriah Heeps debut album Very “Eavy, Very 'Umble. First I would like to say that the album cover is from what I've seen of early metal covers the first truly heavy metal album cover almost reminiscent of EDDIE. The music starts off with a really nice heavy guitar and organ driven sound Byron shows off a great voice going up and down the scale and being super awesome. It actually is almost Paul D'Ianno like. (That's a good thing.) Heep knew a good thing when they found it and used some really interesting AC/DCish solos where they repeated the same power chord while another guitar soloed over it.

The music is interesting. While for the most part a heavy metal album there are definitely acoustic, blues and jazz bits. This is especially prominent in the song Lucy Blues which kind of leaves the other premises of the album and seems kind of out of place. Actually the song Lucy Blues is an interesting contrast between the metal of some tracks and the blues of that one a true blues track. This seems kind of contradictory as to how most of the album sounds but it is still pretty good on its own. There are also some interesting and weird psychedelic parts especially in Gypsy that have gathered my attention and make me smile. They are quite interesting and provide a nice touch to the songs they feature in.

The technical playing is very good and impressive especially in the lead track Gypsy. There is stunning contrast, this is seen between the song Gypsy and the very next track Come away. Gypsy is a hard rocking lead track and Come Away is a mournful and quiet ballad. It is interesting how they fit both blues and hard rock on one record but they manage it pretty well. It allows them plenty of genres to work in so I suppose that it is good for them as a band. Come Away is then brilliantly contrasted again against the immediately following track I'll Keep on Trying which is a hard rock ballad type thing that is really riff driven.

Overall this is a nice album. It features good contrast between tracks some of them being hard and others being bluesy. They show technical skill in the solos and have great vocals. It is well put together and produce and provides a really cool feel. There are dark lyrics and raunchy lyrics and other sorts of lyrics. It comes off really well overall and it should appeal to most metal fans who are into earlier metal and are willing to listen to some blues. This album is pretty amazing but it just lacks a je ne se quoi. But really you should listen to it.

OVERALL 8.5/10

Very Eavy Very Umble