Heathen Sons (Self Titled) on Metropolitan Groove Merchants (September 7, 2017 Release Date)
Reviewed by Harry Kaplan
A little bit Skynyrd and little bit Bad Company and a whole lot more. This is some great rock and roll. These guys seem to draw from a lot of different wells: country, punk, and 80s alternative. Heathen Sons is: Joshua Huggins on vocals & guitar, Dayton Swords on lead Guitar, John Watson on bass, and Brady Brueggen on drums. These guys have a very energetic sound and can get heavy or light with the best of them. When you listen to Georgia (Track 4), it will hit you like a 20 pound sledge hammer. Both heavy and dark & light and breezy. In the same song.
The writing is quite good on this debut. These guys dug deep when doing the writing for this album. One listen to Listen (Track 7) and you will see that. Joshua Huggins’ voice shines like a 10,000 candle power spotlight. Listen is a beautiful song that has serious hit potential. Well, if there was anything that resembled airplay anymore. Listen is one of those songs that could be an anthem. It has all the trimmins’.
Like To Fight (Track 8) has a more than a little ZZ Top in it. The guitars on this number are crackling with energy. Hot to the touch. This song has a bit more bravado, as witnessed by the title alone. Did you expect this to be a tear jerking ballad with that title? Well, upon further reflection, it could be a weepy ballad. She left him because he “Like To Fight”. I digress.
One thing I would never waiver on is that this self titled debut from Heathen Sons is a solid release. Solid sells it a little short. It is way north of solid, somewhere in the fantastic category. I give this release a buy recommendation. Here’s how:
