Monthly Crush: The Heavy

If the play count in my iTunes library is any indication, I think I’ve found the soundtrack to my summer: Great Vengeance and Furious Fire, the debut album from the UK’s The Heavy, has been getting loads of love in my speakers and headphones recently, and it keeps growing on me with every listen.

Great Vengeance is a fantastic, gritty, rocking soul album that’s loaded with more fuzzy guitars, funky horns, and hip-hop beats than a David Holmes soundtrack album. It’s also a nice, taut release: clocking in at just over half an hour, the 10 songs are completely devoid of filler and, in what’s become a sad rarity in modern album-making, really leaves you wanting more. Lead singer Kelvin Swaby’s voice conjures images of a chain-smoking Prince with a hint of falsetto Tom Waits — in fact, opener “Brukpocket’s Lament” had me thinking that Vengeance was an Orphans orphan until the heavy horns kicked in on “Colleen.” Unexpectedly excellent stuff.

Download: The Heavy, “Colleen” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Heavy, “Set Me Free” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Dig it? Right now you can snag Great Vengeance and Furious Fire at Amazon MP3 for $5.99.