The Metal Crypt on Facebook  The Metal Crypt's YouTube Channel
Review: Heathen - Recovered
Heathen
www.facebook.com/heathen.official
Recovered

Label: Independent
Year released: 2004
Duration: 47:43
Tracks: 9
Genre: Heavy/Thrash

Rating:
4/5


Review online: November 11, 2004
Reviewed by: Michel Renaud
Readers' Rating
How do you rate this release?

Rated 3.83/5 (76.67%) (18 Votes)
Review

I first thought this was a comeback album by Heathen, but that's not exactly it. The album is well-named since it contains 4 covers (out of 9 tracks) and the other songs were written back in 1992 but were left unfinished until the band decided to recover them from their archives in 2003. There is one new song, "In Memory Of...", a ballad dedicated to former band member Randy Laird and his girlfriend, as well as lead vocal David White's brother Jeffrey who (from what I understand) died in an accident in 1991. In fact this is the the only song for which the lyrics are printed in the very thin booklet. That said, this is a very touching ballad whose highlights are the lyrics and vocal lines.

When I first heard the album opener, I was a bit taken aback and immediately thought this sounded like Queen. Well, no shit, Sherlock - it's a Queen cover. Of the first five songs, four are covers with "In Memory Of..." stuck in the middle. The only song I was really familiar with is Tygers of Pan Tang's "Hellbound", and Heathen did a good job giving it a harder, slightly thrashy edge. I find the album starts pretty weakly, the first three songs being way too poppy and accessible: You have to wait until the fourth song to start getting your ass kicked, but from there it doesn't stop. Their older songs (tracks 6 to 9) have a definitive mid-80s Metallica influence in the riffs, a mix of both Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets (one of the songs has a passage suspiciously similar to a passage on "Damage Inc.") The sound is more diversified and more melodic, especially in the vocal lines at times. But one can't help but think of the aforementioned Metallica albums while listening to these four songs, that's for sure. I like the guitar sound on those albums, so I am sure not complaining about hearing something similar but with a different overall sound.

One can question the placement of the first two covers - not only they don't make good openers, but they are way too poppy to fit in with the rest of the songs presented here. Maybe a different track order would have made them fit better in here, but then again I like having all the kickass songs (4 to 9) all in a row. A good dose of speed/thrash from a band that gave us some good stuff back in the days, definitely worth checking out for fans of the genre.

More about Heathen...
Review: Breaking the Silence (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Empire of the Blind (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Empire of the Blind (reviewed by Michel Renaud)
Review: The Evolution of Chaos (reviewed by Adam Kohrman)
Review: The Evolution of Chaos (reviewed by Hermer Arroyo)
Review: The Evolution of Chaos (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Victims of Deception (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Interview with bassist Jason Viebrooks and guitarist Kragen Lum on March 1, 2015 (Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen)
Interview with vocalist David White on September 8, 2024 (Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen)
Click below for more reviews
Latest 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Various Books/Zines 



The Metal Crypt - Crushing Posers Since 1999
Copyright  © 1999-2024, Michel Renaud / The Metal Crypt.  All Rights Reserved.