{"id":55564,"date":"2017-09-26T19:40:24","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T00:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=55564"},"modified":"2017-09-26T19:40:24","modified_gmt":"2017-09-27T00:40:24","slug":"heaven-earth-hard-to-kill-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2017\/heaven-earth-hard-to-kill-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Heaven & Earth | Hard To Kill"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Sr. Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"\u201cIf it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it.\u201d Although it\u2019s mostly experiment that leads to enlightenment \u2013 in music and elsewhere \u2013 sometimes it\u2019s better to follow the above adage after all, and this is something the L.A.-based quintet Heaven & Earth must be well aware of. <\/p>\n

In spite of years gone by and major changes within the band as well as outside of it, their newest album Hard To Kill<\/em> not only picks up where 2013 Dig<\/em> left off. What is even more surprising \u2013 it also doesn\u2019t fall far from 1999 all-star release recorded under the moniker of Heaven & Earth Featuring Stuart Smith, the one that started it all. <\/p>\n

Stylistically, it\u2019s still pure, classic Hard Rock sound with a tint of blues \u2013 and a certain Purple-ish tone to it. <\/p>\n

If it hadn\u2019t been for obviously modern production, the album\u2019s eponymous song alone might have served for a lost gem of the 1970s era. Its feisty, pulsating groove and lush instrumental background set the standard for the rest of the album, echoed in tracks like \u201cBeautiful Monsters\u201d or \u201cHellfire\u201d. Juicy, blues-infused tracks like \u201cTill It\u2019s Over\u201d and \u201cThe Game Has Changed\u201d sound as if conceived halfway a spontaneous jam session in a smoky joint. On the other hand, the driving, stomping rhythm of \u201cAnthem\u201d shows yet another side to the \u201clive vibe\u201d so typical of the band\u2019s sound. There\u2019s also a place for pieces of emotionally laden balladry on the album, from semi-acoustic mid-tempo \u201cBleed Me Dry\u201d towards the dramatized, bluesy vibe of \u201cLA Blues\u201d and dark-ish, moody tone of \u201cBad Man\u201d \u2013 the latter giving Hard To Kill<\/em> its deservedly haunting grand finale. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe created a monster,\u201d goes Joe Retta in the seventh track on Hard To Kill<\/em> and this is perhaps the best summary of all, the new offering by Heaven & Earth being a monster of a record indeed. The total number of songs on the album is eleven \u2013 each of them fueled by scorching fretwork and blaring Hammond sound and completed with tight rhythm section and Retta\u2019s powerhouse voice. And each of them, in its own unique manner, transforms what was best in 1970s Hard Rock and Blues Rock into the modern era. As proven by their newest release, Heaven & Earth are not only hard to kill \u2013 also, they\u2019re back with style. <\/p>\n

Genre: Classic Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nJoe Retta \u2013 vocals, harmonica
\nStuart Smith \u2013 guitars
\nLynn Sorensen \u2013 bass guitar
\nKenny Aronoff \u2013 drums
\nTy Bailie \u2013 keyboards <\/p>\n

Tracklist:
\n1.\tHard To Kill
\n2.\tWalk Away
\n3.\tTill It\u2019s Over
\n4.\tBleed Me Dry
\n5.\tThe Game Has Changed
\n6.\tAnthem
\n7.\tMonster
\n8.\tLA Blues
\n9.\tHellfire
\n10.\tBeautiful Monsters
\n11.\tBad Man<\/p>\n

Label: Quarto Valley Records<\/p>\n

Website: http:\/\/heavenandearthband.com\/ – https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pg\/officialheavenandearth\/<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: [usr 9 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Sr. Columnist — \u201cIf it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it.\u201d Although it\u2019s mostly experiment that leads to enlightenment \u2013 in music and elsewhere \u2013 sometimes it\u2019s better to follow the above […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":55542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15128],"tags":[2908,8457,13698,11619,8455,13711,12354,13710,8458],"class_list":{"0":"post-55564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2017","8":"tag-classic-hard-rock","9":"tag-dig","10":"tag-hard-to-kill","11":"tag-heaven-earth","12":"tag-joe-retta","13":"tag-kenny-aronoff","14":"tag-music-review","15":"tag-quarto-valley-records","16":"tag-stuart-smith"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}