Heavy Pettin’ – Rock Generation

Rock Generation; Faith Healer; Brother Sister; Oblivion; Mother Earth; X-Rated; Bullets and Pills; Line in the Sand; Love UR best Life; This Life

(Silver Lining Music)

Back in the late eighties Scottish rock band Heavy Pettin’ were touted as the next big thing; they toured with the major artists of the day. Their debut album was produced by Queen guitarist Brian May – unfortunately, things never took off for the band. Fast forward thirty-six years since the release of their last album and the band are back, probably louder, prouder, and almost certainly stronger than ever before.

What's on offer here is a selection of classic rock songs that come with a killer chorus, plenty of guitar riffs, and, most of all, a strong belief that rock music is well and truly alive. The template owes a lot to bands such as Kiss and Bon Jovi in their prime and, to a certain extent, Saxon – the latter, especially in the vocal department.

When the charts are filled with female solo artists, the album of a rock act in their prime is refreshing to hear, even better when the band are firing on all cylinders. The title track suggests that the rock generation is now viewed as one that embraced the genre, which has largely been forgotten by Generation Y.

Mother Earth proves that even rock bands care about the planet – the song is one that Saxon would be proud to own, whilst two of the best tracks on this fine album are saved until the very end, namely Live Your Best Life and the closing number, This Life, which comes with a guitar riff which sounds as if it was influenced by T. Rex.

The band might have made their fans wait a while for the album, but it was worth it.