Heavy Song of the Week is a feature on Heavy Consequence breaking down the top metal and hard rock tracks you need to hear every Friday. This week, the top spot goes to British rock titans Deep Purple for their new single “Lazy Sod.”
The inspiration for Deep Purple’s latest single, “Lazy Sod,” indirectly came from an unlikely source: country music heroine Dolly Parton.
When singer Ian Gillan was reminded during a recent interview that Dolly has written over 5,000 songs in her esteemed career — compared to his 500ish — he was humbled and jotted down the words “lazy sod” in his notebook. It eventually became the title for this new Deep Purple cut and served as the conceptual basis for the lyrical content.
“The world’s on fire, and I can’t get my ass out of bed,” sings Gillan during the track’s opening bars.
In an era when lyrics are often wrought with irony, it’s refreshing to hear such direct honesty. Gillan goes on to bemoan the tumultuous state of the world and his helplessness to change it — a highly relatable sentiment of resignation that rings poignant.
As for the music, “Lazy Sod” is a swift and compact distillation of Deep Purple’s classic sound. Driving blues riffs are coupled with prominent organ, and the British legends eschew any verse-chorus-verse rigidity with some extended scale climbs and a shreddy bridge section that goes full prog.
Heavy Song of the Week is a feature on Heavy Consequence breaking down the top metal and hard rock tracks you need to hear every Friday. This week, the top spot goes to British rock titans Deep Purple for their new single “Lazy Sod.”
The inspiration for Deep Purple’s latest single, “Lazy Sod,” indirectly came from an unlikely source: country music heroine Dolly Parton.
When singer Ian Gillan was reminded during a recent interview that Dolly has written over 5,000 songs in her esteemed career — compared to his 500ish — he was humbled and jotted down the words “lazy sod” in his notebook. It eventually became the title for this new Deep Purple cut and served as the conceptual basis for the lyrical content.
“The world’s on fire, and I can’t get my ass out of bed,” sings Gillan during the track’s opening bars.
In an era when lyrics are often wrought with irony, it’s refreshing to hear such direct honesty. Gillan goes on to bemoan the tumultuous state of the world and his helplessness to change it — a highly relatable sentiment of resignation that rings poignant.
As for the music, “Lazy Sod” is a swift and compact distillation of Deep Purple’s classic sound. Driving blues riffs are coupled with prominent organ, and the British legends eschew any verse-chorus-verse rigidity with some extended scale climbs and a shreddy bridge section that goes full prog.
Honorable Mentions:
Category 7 – “Mousetrap”
Metal supergroup Category 7 are set to drop their debut album later this month, and the John Bush-fronted ensemble has unveiled another single from the project in the form of “Mousetrap.” The central riffs are indicative of guitarist Phil Demmel’s involvement, as we can’t help hearing some Machine Head in there. Likewise, Bush’s powerful clean vocals paired with beefy thrash evokes his longrunning band Armored Saint at their most ferocious. That inherent overlap in styles is one of the best things about a supergroup, especially when it sounds like everyone is fully committed, as heard in their stellar performances.
Hammerfall – “Freedom”
Hammerfall’s new single, “Freedom,” is another fine example of the Swedish band’s power metal mastery. Singer zxxxxxx is in top form, weaving soothing melodies in his falsetto register to an underbelly of triumphant riffage. The introduction of a deep chorus vocal — almost like a Viking war chant — provides a nice balance in tonality and adds to the sense of epic fantasy that is Hammerfall’s trademark.
Terra Black – “Tethers”
Sweden has long been a haven for stoner doom and heavy psych, and Gothenburg-based band Terra Black are among the more recent torchbearers. Their new one-off single is a churning, evocative piece that blankets the listener in an atmosphere of brooding mystery, making good on the band’s “occult” tag — a label that tends to be overused and exaggerated. That’s not the case here. The hues of purple and black in the single’s artwork are appropriate. With its ghostly vocals and hypnotic riffs, this is the music of after-dark rituals and meditation.