Heaven's Basement  - Unbreakable EP - Track by Track

Sometimes you have to make choices in life. Oxford or Cambridge, United or City, Beer or Lager, Heaven’s Basement playing an acoustic set or Bowling for Soup playing with two giant inflatable sheep.

Sometimes you think you made the right choice, and then something happens that blows that decision right out of the water so high it needs to be logged by NASA.

Don’t get me wrong – Bowling for Soup at Download were enjoyable.  Any band that proceeds to deflate one of the aforementioned sheep with a giant inflatable penis provided by the crowd has to command respect.

But having gotten my mitts on the new ‘Unbreakable’ EP from Heaven’s Basement just a few days after, and the fact that it hasn’t left my MP3 player, car stereo or brain in the 2 weeks since, shows what a f*****g stupid decision to choose BFS over HB was.  One I will not be making again anytime soon…

1. Unbreakable

From the very first second of the title track ‘Unbreakable’, new singer Aaron Buchanan literally screams his intent on making this gig his own - founder member and vocalist Richie Heavanz having departed in February last year, just weeks before their UK tour.

Right from the off this EP oozes quality – in all departments – but it’s at 3 minutes and 4 seconds, just as you thought the opening song was going to go to a final verse, when the sickest, sleaziest riff, meatier than a veggie’s slaughterhouse nightmare, is shackled to a most unholy scream prompting an approving ‘ooooh’ from all present.

Although agonizingly brief, this moment is an indicator of what is to come – edgy, risky, but with an assurance of quality you would only normally expect from a band at the top.  It requires something special to take a 1980 Def Leppard inspired riff and make it this deprived!

2. Guilt Trips and Sins

Second up is ‘Guilt Trips and Sins’ – a real guilt trip of a song!  An almost prog opening that peaks with a phrase reminiscent of Chris Cornell’s ‘You Know My Name’, clinical guitars, massive production, powerhouse drumming and perfect vocals combine to produce a sound not dissimilar to the recent Fall Out Boy / Anthrax collaboration The Damned Things.

3. The Long Goodbye

This feel is even more apparent on ‘The Long Goodbye’ – previously available online – whose guitar effects and A grade vocal harmonies add a gloss to the dirty riffing.  You can see why this was made available for free – it’s a cracking track that shows off the newer sound perfectly.

This is where you might expect things to slow down, to have peaked, time to throw a couple of fillers in.

Hell no...

4. Close Encounters

If the riffs so far have been great, then Jesus ‘H’ Christ was my first response to the opening salvo of epic ‘Close Encounters’.  My second response was holy s**t.  My third…well you get the idea.  Put it this way, it’s one of those riffs that when you’ve not got anything playing, it’s in your head. You just cannot get enough of this riff. Seriously - a riff that’s so impossible to shake it induces an addiction that helps explain the cliché ‘sex, drugs and rock’n’roll’. 

5. Paranoia

If you like your rock with it’s tits out, you’ll love ‘Paranoia’.  Still with quality oozing from every pore, this is G’n’R meets Crue in 2011.

When Heaven’s Basement do decide to slow things down, they certainly know how to do it... 

6. Let Me Out of Here

‘Let Me Out Of Here’ is track of such beauty it would be a stand-out on any album by bands such as Creed, Alter Bridge, Nickelback or Theory of a Deadman.

It’s very hard to describe how good this song is – if Heaven’s Basement want a stadium anthem, this is it.  I’m not normally one to be obsessed with lyrics – say what the f**k you want if the songs cool – but ‘I find it hard to let myself go yet I know I shouldn’t care’ is a great line.

7. Leeches

‘Leeches’ is a stonking way to round off the EP with more attitude than John Lydon’s neglected bastard love-child.

Imagine Velvet Revolver if their tour bus was nicked, their girlfriends / wives left them to join the circus, Slash was back on every substance known to man, and they’d recruited a fucking crazy ass motherf****r to sing. A stunning way to finish.

So why just a 7 track EP? My guess is that Heaven’s Basement wanted to get these songs out to their fans without anymore delay, to reflect the new direction of the band. The downside is that you’re left thinking where’s the rest?

Some of the seven songs were produced by Bob Marlette before Heavanz departure – who has some interesting credits – Saliva (‘Click Click Boom’), Black Stone Cherry (‘Blind Man’) and Lynyrd Skynyrd (‘Gods ‘n’ Guns’) amongst them.  New singer Aaron Buchanan has since laid down the vocals on these for this EP - and the world is a much better place for it.

Picking up some tricks from previous touring partners – most notably Papa Roach, Theory of a Deadman and Shinedown - their sound is slicker and more polished than their previous EP, but still retains the rock’n’roll vibe you want from a band that spends so much time on the road.

Thankfully Heaven’s Basement are currently writing new material.  But which way will they choose – the more commercial approach, or more raw rock’n’roll on steroids approach?

No problem.  Heaven’s Basement have proved that you can mix the quality of Shinedown, the f**k-you attitude of 1987 vintage G’n’R, the cool harmonies of Nickelback with awesome effect - all topped off with a distinctive English accented vocal.

With this EP Heaven’s Basement say bollocks to making a choice, and look set to take their place at the top table of rock.

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Find more details of upcoming gigs in Amy's Heaven's Basement feature or checkout the band at http://www.heavensbasement.com/

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