SHEAVY -

SHEAVY - CELESTIAL HI-FI - RISE ABOVE
Canada's Sheavy is a band that many have heard of, but not many have actually heard. Regardless, everything you've heard about the group is absolutely correct. The band does specialize in heavy/ doom metal with obvious comparisons to Trouble, Iron Man, etc. However at no point will you find the band ripping off any particular band. Certainly a song like Tales From the Afterburner ( so many space references) is very Black Sabbath, but Sheavy is proficient enough in its art to compose and jam on its own tunes. If you've tried Cathedral, Trouble and Saint Vitus and enjoyed the music, then Sheavy definitely belongs in your collection. - Ali "The Metallian"

SHEAVY - REPUBLIC? - RISE ABOVE/CANDLELIGHT
So many bands have so blatantly and so bluntly ripped off Ozzy era Black Sabbath that doing so has not only become acceptable, but is also a genre onto itself. As much fun as this music is and as much appreciation one might have for the organic and vintage sounds of '70s heavy metal or Ozzy-like high-pitched crooning this is still music from the land of Oz with patented Geezer/Iommi riffs.
Having said that, within the band's chosen sub-genre, there is not a single song here that stands out as weaker than average or just plain bad. The Canadian doomsters crunch their instruments on the altar of Ozzy with serious conviction without a sense of irony or humour. The voice of Steve Hennessey is exceptionally clear. The abrupt ending of the album is less so. As for the map of the province of Newfoundland on an album called Republic? It is a clear fact that the more uneducated a mind, the more tribal and segregationist the bigot. - Ali "The Metallian"