The power riffing on вЂњWhat You Want Me to Do?вЂќ reaches Black Sabbath-like proportions. вЂњNo TimeвЂќ has an urgent, Hendrix-referencing crunch, while вЂњLong Way from HomeвЂќ is stomping, psychedelic blues. вЂњSixteenвЂќ tells the tale of a girl-gone-wrong, seduced by the Devil, through a demented carnival waltz, something Sly Stone might have thought up while on a bad trip. No, nothing else quite reaches that punishing peak, but the variety of styles alone is impressive, and the Heavy arenвЂ™t exactly short on tunes. With metallic drums that POP!, a tail-wagging guitar lick, and sexed-up horns, it comes on like PrinceвЂ™s вЂњSexy MFвЂќ with twice the testosterone.

вЂњHow You Like Me Now?вЂќ isnвЂ™t quite as smashing as вЂњThat Kind of ManвЂќ from the debut, but itвЂ™s within spitting distance. Like Great Vengeance and Furious Fire, The House That Dirt Built pivots around a killer track that sets the bar almost impossibly high for the rest of the album. Whether heвЂ™s wailing hoarsely on the pile-driving вЂњOh No! Not You Again!!вЂќ, flaunting an Al Green falsetto on the effortlessly catchy soul-pop of вЂњShort Change HeroвЂќ, or channeling Lee Mavers from the LaвЂ™s on the doo-wop-era R&B of вЂњLove Like ThatвЂќ, Swaby always sounds like heвЂ™s sweating, and in a good way. Kelvin Swaby more than fits this bill, slinking his voice into whatever form the song demands it take, never losing its intensity. To keep a stylistic grinder like this going, and to keep everything on the level, you need an exceptional frontman. He and the band lend a certain sharpness to the mix, and introduce the occasional beatbox rhythm, but the result is an extension and honing of the debut, rather than a departure from it. Jim Abbiss, a veteran whoвЂ™s worked with Arctic Monkeys and Editors, co-produces this time around. No need for a major overhaul on follow-up The House That Dirt Built, then. The HeavyвЂ™s 2007 debut album, Great Vengeance and Furious Fire, featured a confident band whose sound and songwriting abilities were already formed. Even the breezy folk-pop numbers and the ballads mean business. Rarely has a band been so appropriately named.

The Bath, England, quartet bash their way through classic soul, funk, and rock with a visceral, apocalyptic intensity that means to right all the musical wrongs Lenny Kravitz has committed over the past 20 years. Even if you arenвЂ™t a big fan of the HeavyвЂ™s music, youвЂ™ve gotta love their mission. Every band benefits from a well-defined sense of purpose.

The heavy house that dirt built