Seattle Subsonic

“No, YOU Listen!” — A Killer Of Snakes by The Heavy Hearts

June 6th, 2008

Have you ever wondered how a blossoming hard rock band from the early 90s, say Mother Love Bone or Alice in Chains, would sound if a punk like Black Francis or Ian MacKaye fronted it? Or a rough-and-tumble Kim Gordon played bass? Or maybe if grunge, the term unfortunately now branded a slur, never spawned a regrettable glut of modern rock wannabes and instead continued to toil and thrive in the musical underground for the past fifteen years? It’s no surprise that the first LP from the Heavy Hearts, A Killer Of Snakes, conjures up these sort of imaginings; the band earned their chops and found their styles playing in the local grunge aftermath over a decade ago. You might even call them post-grunge. Or you might not; just tryin’ to help you out.

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A bit of history: Brian Burnside, the Hearts’ guitarist and main vocalist, teamed up in 1995 with bassist Brian Kraft, who had previously done time in noise-rock outfit Engine Kid, to help form the Bali Girls. Somewhere along the way, bassist no. 2 Denise Maupin, previously of the Delusions, entered the picture and she, Burnside, Kraft, and drummer Lee Taylor formed TripleXaudio around 2002. After that band folded, Kraft, following his departure, was brought back on board, and—voilà—you have the current incarnation of the Heavy Hearts.

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Despite palpable influence from a multitude of legitimate alternative and independent rock icons from the past three decades, the HHs have managed to craft a distinctive, snotty, chugging, blistering, and defiant album that never quite stops its bludgeoning tempo. The Hearts are one of the few bands out there employing two mostly-full-time bassists, and Maupin is a bombshell right in the middle of the fray. And while she is easy on the eyes, the reference is actually to her ability to fuel the band’s onstage persona that detonates the group’s sound. Using a fiery vocal rapport with Burnside and a vicious dual attack with Kraft, lead—and arguably best—track “Attrition” is a fine example of this. Burnside’s almost-jangly guitar drives the melody while Maupin bridges the song with an exemplary solo two-thirds of the way through.

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The album continues with the militant, deftly scaled “Revolution”. Burnside’s inspiration from guitar heroes like Thurston Moore and J. Mascis are proudly put on display (with a second guitar joining in) while the chorus echoes, “I know you know I know you want it!” If there’s one thing this band has gotten down pat, it’s the bratty, insistent vocal repetitions presented in most every song- “Let’s start a revolution! For a retribution!” on “Amongst the Gaggle”; “You live and you learn!” on “TV”; the “K-I-L-L” mantra that closes out “Long Road”. That same song is launched by Kraft’s sinister riff, reminding the listener that in this group, however, the bass is boss.

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Fans familiar with the group will find two tracks from their self-titled EP re-recorded for this release on Selector Sound, “Spit When You Say My Name” and “On The Breaks”; the former employing a striking call-and-response ploy, the latter closing the album with a swirling guitar arpeggio. Recorded in the band’s practice studio, the production does a nice job of standing up the quartet’s aggressive live performances, which, even with countless shows under their belts, are still rather difficult to find any meaningful write-ups about. And while local brethren like Thee Emergency and The Valley continue to garner all the press, it’s the Heavy Hearts that quietly went out and made one of the best rock records of the year.