ALBUM REVIEW: Love Like Machines – The Heavy Eyes

After a five year wait THE HEAVY EYES have at last released their fourth studio record Love Like Machines. It follows on from He Dreams of Lions, with the band having been on pause since 2017 due to a series of life events and distance, but normal service resumed last year to create the new record. This time around, THE HEAVY EYES are teaming up Kozmik Artifactz – but can the Memphis outfit recapture the brilliance of their earlier output?

The album begins with Anabasis, and is a gentle introduction for those who are new to the band. Vocalist Tripp Shumake leads us in with a soft acoustic guitar intro and vocals to match, his deep voice giving the essence of a nice easy listening track. Things turn on a sixpence though when without warning the rest of the band come into play, with a heavy prominence on the bass of Wally Anderson. That sound is the backbone of the entire record, and becomes more apparent in the following track Made For the Age. This time right from the opening second all the elements come into play, and the tempo is notched up ever so slightly. The riffs are catchy and not overly complicated, while the bass carries the speed and gets most of the attention throughout the track.

Some of the tracks do have heavier effects compared to the others, adding to the psychedelic atmosphere THE HEAVY EYES have been renowned for creating over the years. For example, God Damn Wolf Man starts off with the sound being quite distant, and there are some echoes which add to the feel of the track. It isn’t as fast as some of the other songs on the record, and once again the bass being at the forefront of the track adds the blues spin.

There is only one song which actually has the guitar being the prominent instrument, coming towards the tail end of the record; Vera Cruz. While a lot of the intros for the other songs on the album have been led in by the bass and then continue to have it in the foreground of the music, Vera Cruz begins with the guitar and, much like the opening track, the riff is quite simplistic and easy listening, but is repeated for the majority of the song and is very catchy.

Psychedelic blues rock may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s something about Love Like Machines which makes it very easy to pick up and listen to. There are certainly a lot of similarities to ROYAL BLOOD, both in terms of the musical structure as well as the overall sound, but throughout the record there are also echoes of QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, DIRE STRAITS and even some of the newer material from ARCTIC MONKEYS. When you combine all the elements together, it truly is a work of art, and it has well been worth the five year wait for the record to be released.

Rating 9/10

Love Like Machines is out now via Kozmik Artifactz.

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