Dig is one of those albums that, as soon as the first note is strung, you’re whisked back to a nostalgic period of classic rock from decades ago. Heaven & Earth were conceived as a side-project a few years back by the former “apprentice” of Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore, Stuart Smith. Speaking about the band’s new album, Smith said it was “the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
The introduction to “Victorious” has a very exotic, Middle Eastern sound to it, and is very reminiscent of music you’d hear in an Aladdin movie. Steady yet lively, the flow and rhythm of the song cause the adrenaline to begin pulsing through your veins—“There’ll be a champion, standing tall for all to see.” In other words, “Victorious” makes you feel pumped. Also worthy of note is the electric guitar, which is as ever-present here as it is in the rest of the album, and equally as impressive as the lyrics.
“Back In Anger” starts off with a ferocious energy, and reflects the emotion that the track seeks to encompass. Including references to issues affecting the world today, such as global warming and problems in the Middle East, Heaven & Earth pinpoint matters they feel deserve more attention. The aptly-named “Sexual Insanity” is as stimulating as the title suggests. At times soothingly gentle, at others markedly more enthusiastic, “Sexual Insanity” is a roller coaster ride in terms of its fluctuations of emotion and intensity.
Dig is Heaven & Earth’s effort to resurrect the classic rock genre of music. Have they been successful in their mission? Very much so. Dig is an album that fits in with ease in the modern age of music, and fuses tradition with innovation in a manner that is sure to get any rock fan’s senses tingling.
In A Word: Robust
—by Jakub Lipczyk, April 3, 2013