Is there a shelf life for bands putting out new music? Once you hit 40, 50…even 60 years I get the drive to keep putting out fresh music, but to my ears it overwhelmingly results in bands I love releasing bland, toothless music assembled via committee. Recent output by bands like Deep Purple and the Rolling Stones have left me underwhelmed, the tunes lacking any bite. So when I heard Uriah Heep were not only still kicking but releasing new music I was intrigued but honestly not hopeful. And yet here we are with Chaos & Colour, the best Deep Purple album Deep Purple never released, and a fantastic modern version of what the band was doing in their prime. It’s heavy, it rocks hard, and best of all the band still sounds hungry 50 years on.

Continue reading “Uriah Heep: Chaos & Colour (2023)”

It was inevitable that I would come back to Uriah Heep. More than any other discovery in the past few years, they’ve been the band I’ve been drawn to the most: a potent proto-metal outfit with progressive tendencies and just some killer, killer tracks. I thought the trilogy of Look at Yourself, Demons & Wizards, and The Magician’s Birthday would be enough (all reviewed here), but both older and newer albums have ensnared me just as deeply. So the plan this week is to finish off the recent acquisitions starting with the American version of their debut, simply titled here as Uriah Heep.

Continue reading “Uriah Heep: Uriah Heep (1970)”