BLOOD ON THE HIGHWAY

It's very hard to find an album by a veteran rocker that is as good and representative as his albums from his glory days. You can find good albums, but if you try to separate your personal feelings about the artist and the "objective" value of this late work (think of Paul McCartney's post-Wings output, David Gilmour and Roger Water's solo albums e.g.) you'll agree with me. The only names (that come to my mind right now) that escape from this general rule are Richard Wright's "Broken China" and Ken Hensley's "Blood on the highway".

Although I'm a true Heepie fan I have some problem with their studio material post-Lawton era. And after a lot of experiences with the last Heep line-up (both live and studio) I believe that, more than David Byron's, it's Hensley's absence that I believe have done the greatest harm to the group. Of course the dynamic within the band was very far from good when Hensley left Uriah Heep but Hystory showed (to me at least) that his "writing dictatorship" was better to the band than democracy. But that's another story.

After a couple of Christian-themed albums (that as usual in Christian-related material sounds too focused on the lyrics) and a good return to live experience with former Heep mate John Lawton, Hensley brings to us one of the very best albums from the late 2000s. Rocking very hard he selected a lot of unknown musicians from Spain, where he lives, some very good guest singers and deliver a solid kind-of-conceptual album that has songs that survive by themselves. It's difficult to quote one or another piece from this very moving album, but the powerful first and second songs sets the emotional and sound level of the whole piece.

I can't recommend this album enough to any rock fan, specially those who are into hard rock. And if you're a Heep fan this is an essential item to your collection. But this is not an "excelent addition to a prog rock collection" because someone that bought it waiting any form of prog rock would be f***ing frustrated. So, that's my warning: a 3 star album from the prog rock point of view, but a solid 5 star album in a free-music genre form evaluation.