Heavy Water – ‘Dreams Of Yesterday’

(Silver Lining Music)

Heavy Water are a project that was kickstarted during lockdown as a collaboration between Seb Byford and his dad Biff Byford (yes that’s right! The one and only frontman of NWOBHM legends Saxon). ‘Dreams Of Yesterday’ is their second album and the first thing I would say is don’t expect this to sound like Saxon, Biff is definitely experimenting musically with this project but I think the principal song writer is Seb as some of the modern influences would definitely be coming from a younger artist. If you’re a Saxon fan I’d still say to give this a spin even if just out of curiosity for Biff’s input and performances.

Heavy Water have their roots in Classic Rock but have a lot of modern influences in their overall sound making them a more contemporary listen rather than the retro vibe the Classic Rock tag would imply. I can definitely hear some grunge influences in their sound too, you can hear touches of Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots. The Grunge vibe is only apparent in the guitar sound and the overall atmospherics of these songs, Seb’s vocals are definitely more in the Classic Rock range of style.

To be honest the influences and styles exhibited on the album are extremely varied, the album is cohesive but hard to categorize. It’s not totally Grunge and certainly not a traditional Classic Rock album either – It is very modern though. This is more likely to win fans with new rock fans, teenagers and people in their early twenties who are listening to the current crop of mainstream Rock and Metal, than with Biff’s Saxon faithful.

Is the album any good though? Well, it’s ok, with some cool memorable tracks but this album doesn’t create any real passion in me to emphatically recommend it to people. I’m not a big grunge fan and even less a fan of modern rock so I think it’s those elements that drag the impact of the album down for me. Seb is a fantastic vocalist though, very different to his dad stylistically but in his way very impressive. Biff’s vocals are used sparingly throughout the album which may annoy people picking up this album for the Saxon connection. To be honest though I think this is more Seb’s project with his dad supporting him and backing him up to get the best out of his songwriting.

6/10

Essential Track - 'Never Love Again'

Review by Woody