Dead Ends, Heights.

There’s something refreshing about getting your grubby little mitts on an album and realising that ninety per cent of it has never been released before. It’s exciting yes?
With only a three track EP (the delightful ‘The Land, The Ocean, The Sky’) behind them you might expect Heights to be a little tentative with the release of their debut full length. Instead, ‘Dead Ends’ arrives like a punch to the face, ten tracks which (with the exception of ‘Eye For An Eye’) haven’t been seen outside of live shows. No real sneak peeks, no testing the water or pre-release album streaming just a plain, old fashioned long player release.

If that isn’t a big, bold, ‘We’ve just made a fucking good album’ statement I don’t know what is.


Heights in all their glory (thanks to Anna Meacham for the photo)

Of course, all this is pretty secondary compared to the real issue. Is the album itself any good?

The first thing you notice is the sound itself. It’s like everything’s been turned up to eleven and left there. More time, experience and (I’m guessing) a bigger and better studio have given the album the presence of a speaker stack next to your face. Big and loud. They have however translated from the EP to LP stage without, like so many bands do, losing their original charm in a riot of studio tricks and overdubbing.

That of course, means they still sound as angry as Charlie Sheen on a bad night. ‘We are we are the lost and alone, we are we are never fucking going home’(‘The Lost And Alone’) is the kind of cathartic rage you’ll find all over this record. ‘The Sun will rise and time will pass and I will forget you’ (‘Forget’) is another choice lyric. Clearly someone has pissed Thomas Debaere and co off. Which, to be honest, is fine by me because it’s helped make some great music.

Take ‘Eye for an Eye’ for example, the track you’re likely to know best upon listening. There’s no prolonged instrumental build up, just straight into the screams. Tight drums and a chugging rhythm guitar part drive the track with a head banging intensity that will have you fist pumping by the breakdown without fail. ‘Eye for an eye will make me blind’ go the vocals as the track builds and builds, slotting into the bands trademark top of the fret board guitar work for the last minute. You could go as far to say that it sums up the album as a whole…

This is the old Heights, but slightly different. There’s a hardcore edge to the whole thing, driving the album on at a breakneck pace. There are shorter tracks (although the five minute epics are still here) and bigger breakdowns. Everything is a little bit meaner. Tracks like ‘Oceans’, ‘Dead Ends’ and those already mentioned show this off to a tee.

I posed a question right at the start. Is the album itself any good? I’d blabbered on about how it seemed a pretty bold statement to release so much unseen material in an age where leaks and previews seem to be a given of any new release. Well to answer that question, yes, it really is good. In fact, if you sit down and give it a good hard listen, it’s incredible. A mix of words that rage and boil and music to match that sounds effortless and never falsified.

Sure you won’t give your girlfriend this album as a token of your undying love; you’re more likely to scream the words in her face as she kicks you out. But that doesn’t make it any less brilliant.