OJM (Heavy) CD
"Heavy" kicks off like a typical fuzz-laden riff-rock album with the opening track "The Sleeper", that's close to Nebula or Fu Manchu and at first I expected one of this typical faceless heavy bands, playing in the vein of the before mentioned bands without adding anything new to it. The second up-tempo rocker "Revelations" underlines this impression and is nothing real special, too. But with "You Come", OJM comes up with a slower doom-laden tune, that turns into a creepy early Sabbath-like monster. The whole sound of the band is thick and earthy, and when you switch off the lights you can see the glowing tubes. The Stooges song "TV Eye" is performed in a classic and solid way, but for my taste no one can't never reach the intensity of the original. Next one is the instrumental "Mix-Up!" and now the Italian four-piece shows, that they've got more in store and without losing their groovy heaviness, the sound becomes more psychedelic and the use of keyboards adds a new sonic dimension to it.
After this, it's time to calm down with "As I Know", a relaxed and moody uptempo number in the vein of QotSA f.e. The following "Strange Dreams" is a again nothing spectacular for my taste, while the ultra-heavy "Follow My Leader" is one of the highlights of "Heavy". The bands shows once again their talent to turn the sound from a mind-blowing heavy part into something groovy bluesy. The album closes with "Theodrem", which is about 8 minutes. It takes the listener on a nice and well-balanced ride to the 70's and avoids endless guitar orgies. It reminds me more to Alan Davey or the mid-80's Hawkwind. The album was produced by Paul Chain, but more important for my point of view is, that OJM are stucking between average songs and more inspiring tracks. I think, they've got the potential to create an album with a stronger identity, because with some of the included tracks they have opened the door to it. "Heavy" was released in 2002 on Beard Of Stars Records and for actual informations take a look at the OJM website.
(KK)