Heavy Times – Jacker – Styrofoam Drone

After countless releases on countless labels (most can be found at the bottom of this post) HEAVY TIMES release their sophomore LP on Hozac Records and they have earned every second of it.

When it comes to a bands music, most often people are looking for consistency if they happen to prefer that band. When I think of a band with consistency, one of the first names that comes to mind is Heavy Times. Think about it. From their crummiest tapes on Priority Male and Dinosaur Club all the way up to this sophomore record on Hozac, Heavy Times have managed to stay within the punky confines of their sound, while also giving it a different twist each time – their “Too Many Dreamers” EP was arguably their most poppy stuff. The “Dead” LP on Rotted Tooth was Heavy Times in a nutshell, wielding some obvious psychedelic elements. And last but not least, older cassette tapes like “Sick Listens,” “The Future Rules” or “Fast Night” show Heavy Times with a troubling mad-doctor type of experimentalism that could at times be frightening or just plain fucking awesome.

All of that being said, their new record is almost like a culmination of all of this (even the poppy stuff) and Heavy Times deserve to be commended for their prolific efforts. The only complaint any listener might find is the fact that the LP is just shy of twenty-three minutes, but that certainly doesn’t mean you are getting cut short. Songs like “Suicide Rider” come and go in the blink of an eye but feature a pummeling rhythm that is not soon forgotten, made up with tightly woven guitars and oddly ambient guitar twangs that stick out like a sore thumb. “Erase the Sun” is the track that follows, which features perhaps the most threatening and destructive vibes the album has to offer. The boys plow through with gritty descending guitar hooks, muddy bass lines and manic drumming before one last thirty second beat down that will throw you through a loop. In that thirty second span you’ll encounter berserk guitar mutilations, as well as the thought that you will be playing that track again.

This appropriately rolls right into another album highlight called “Skull Hair” and this song screams Heavy Times. It manages to bring to mind the simplicity of tracks that they recorded for their “No Plans” 7″ on Hozac, except “Skull Hair” is on the next rung up. Those dagger-like lead guitars do a great job to produce a driving force in the song, while also hopefully managing to crack a smile on your face because it’s simply that awesome.

Much like “Skull Hair,” other tracks on this LP manage to stick to that pattern by using such guitar licks as the guiding force through the song. The resurrected track “Knife Talk” is fantastic proof of this, as well as the dark and twisted “Polar Moon.” “Future City” is another resurrected song from their earlier cassette tapes, only they did it up much bigger and better this time – they altered the song structure and filled it out with shredded and stinging guitars to boot, making up just one more highlight included on here “Jacker.” Now listen below to some of the most premium cuts from the album and soon you too will be swearing by Heavy Times.

My Rating: 8.7/10
Genre/ Tags: Punk, Psychedelic, Lo-Fi, Pop
Jacker LP: Tracklist:
1.) Motionless Drift
2.) Future City
3.) Jacker
4.) Let it Die
5.) Suicide Rider
6.) Erase the Sun
7.) Skull Hair
8.) Memory Dump
9.) Polar Moon
10.) Hospital
11.) Knife Talk
12.) Electronic Cigarette