aaamusic | On 30, Aug 2011

Well isn’t this a hell of a way to kick down the door of an album, opening track of Mister Heavenly’s debut album, Bronx Sniper, sounds very little like the rest of the album but it’s quite easily one of the best things on it. Opening with the hushed voice of singer/guitarist Nick Thornton over barely brushed electric guitar chords, it then whips of it’s cloak to reveal a hitherto unseen heavy rock monster, sounding like how Them Crooked Vultures should have sounded like, I.E a genuinely sexy mix of Queens Of The Stone Age and Led Zeppelin, capped off with a deft string section that only serves to heighten the Kashmir comparisons and Thornton shredding his voice over some cryptic lyrics. This is how all albums should start, it’s bracing, confident and draws a line in the sand stating, “This album rocks like a bastard, you want in?” If you’re of sane mind, then unquestionably the answer is yes, however, as the album unfolds, it reveals itself a much more tricky, subtle beast than the balls out Rock of the opener would have you think.

 

In fact, the period of time this record most references is before both Queens of the Stone Age and even Led Zeppelin, for most part it takes it’s cues from the fifties, especially in Charlyne’s Chet Atkins guitar lines and Jerry Lee Lewis Piano that should, by rights, summon a Chevrolet convertible and a flick knife out of thin air through sheer nostalgia alone. In fact, the term “Doom Wop” has been bandied about by the creators and the record does take tried and tested tropes like the aforementioned guitar and piano sounds and welds them spectacularly to the soul bearing of modern day American Indie Rock, it’s telling that drummer Joe Plummer is moonlighting here from both Modest Mouse and The Shins although it’s Isaac Brock’s mob that most informs the sound here.

 

Of course, all this name dropping would mean nothing if the songs weren’t excellent, and make no mistake, they are. Only Reggae Pie’s stoned skank misfires and even that has a killer lyric in “I don’t care if you’ll never be mine cos I’m yours”, the rest of this immaculate set trades in timeless melodies, distorted guitars and a sense of excitement that many records like this (when minor members of Indie bands get together to make a record they can truly call their own) neglect to have. There isn’t even a sense of muso brow furrowing that Mister Heavenly are surely entitled to, this is quite simply a great record, made up of great songs plaid by great musicians. Not much more to ask for in my honest opinion.

 

Author: Will Howard