Reverend Horton Heat – Rev

The word legend is thrown around pretty loosely these days, often used to describe artists or bands that are average at best. However I don’t think anyone can dispute that Dallas Texas rockabilly band Reverend Horton Heat are legends – and these legends have just released their 11^th full length, aptly titled Rev via Victory Records. Featuring 13 songs of rapid paced, energetic rock and roll, this album gives long time fans what they want and is sure to win a few new ones along the way.

Rev kicks off with Victory Lap, the first of two surf inspired instrumentals and it brilliantly sets the tone for what’s to come. Jim ‘The Rev’ Heath’s guitar is in fine form, supported more than ably by Jimbo Wallace and Scott Churilla on upright bass and drums respectively. Smell of Gasoline is a turbocharged rock and roll classic about girls and cars while Never Gonna Stop is a slower number which showcases The Rev’s voice and Jimbo’s bass to fine effect.

Zombie Dumb is the second instrumental, although there are a few words thrown in here and there and the idea for the song actually came to Jim in a dream as he told us in a recent interview. During that same chat Jim told us several stories that served as inspiration for songs on the record, as in Let Me Teach You How To Eat where longtime friend (and man who first called Jim ‘The Reverend’) really got into healthy eating, and started telling everyone around him who would listen that he was going to ‘Teach Them How to Eat’. So if you thought the song had a sexual connotation, get your mind out of the gutter! Spooky Boots is one of the albums standouts – a tale of lost love and a man’s ultimately fruitless search to find the woman he loved, set against another furiously paced rock and roll melody.

Reverend Horton Heat never fail to deliver what they promise, which is frenetic, fun rock and roll featuring songs with a sense of humour and delivered in an irresistible package. There isn’t a bad song on this record and if you reach for the skip button, I hope you rightly feel guilty. You’re only depriving yourself the pleasure.