Heaven & Earth - Hard To Kill (2017)

Straight out Compton...no wait make that Los Angeles comes the hard rock act Heaven & Earth which is the brainchild of guitar virtuoso and Ritchie Blackmore protige Stuart Smith .  If you like classic rock and some bluesy rock, read on.  In fact, the Rainbow/Deep Purple influence is very evident on tracks like Hard To Kill and my personal favorite Walk Away.  Walk Away has hit single written all over it.  It's got the obligatory catchy chorus, fantastic harmonies and is well, the song is just fun. Think Whitesnake self titled album and this song is as good as any song on there.   Bleed Me Dry is another great song with a catchy chorus.  Another personal favorite was Monster, it's got one of those great lead in guitar pieces that was a signature of early Deep Purple/Rainbow songs.   Hellfire was another uptempo song which in my opinion, is where Heaven & Earth really shine.  

Hard to Kill is the fourth release from Heaven & Earth and though this is Stuart Smith project it's far from a one man show.  Joe Retta (The Sweet, Greg Rollie, Dio's Disciples) has got a killer set of pipes,  Lynn Sorenson (Bass - Bad Company, Paul Rodgers Band), Ty Baillie (Keyboards - Katie Perry, Robbie Robertson), Kenny Aronoff (Drums - Bob Seger, John Mellencamp, Rolling Stones) round out this extremely talented band.  

If there's one flaw with Heaven & Earth (and many might disagree), it's that the band is all over the place musically.  I love how they start so strong out of the gate with two blazing rock anthems, but then the band delves into some really bluesy rock and some slower rock.  It's not that the songs are bad, quite the contrary, there's some very good music throughout this disc. It's just a personal preference, I'd like to hear an album full of songs like Hard to Kill, Walk Away and Hellfire and less songs like LA Blues.

Heaven & Earth have the makings of a very special band. They know how to write a very catchy tune, they've got a great vocalist with  powerful voice and they've got a very very talented band.  With the right break this band could (and should) get some well deserved exposure on stations like Ozzy's Boneyard on Sirius Radio.  They'd be a perfect fit for that channel.   I personally cant wait to catch this band live.  Rating: 8/10

Tracklist:
1. Hard To Kill
2. Walk Away
3. Till It’s Over
4. Bleed Me Dry
5. The Game Has Changed
6. Anthem
7. Monster
8. LA Blues
9. Hellfire
10. Beautiful Monsters
11. Bad Man