Kingcrimsonprog The Canadian Stoner Rock/Metal band Sheavy are perhaps best known for their status as the band with Black Sabbath Inspired riffs and Ozzy-sounding vocals. If you like Ozzy era Sabbath then you may either find the band too similar to be able to enjoy seriously or else to be just what you want to hear.

One thing is clear though, however intentionally similar their sound may be to Black Sabbath, Sheavy are very talented as a band and an underrated contributor to the whole Stoner/Desert subgenre of Rock and Metal. Their songs are indeed heavily Black Sabbath inspired yet feature a distinct Sheavy personality of their own too.

Blue Sky Mind was the band’s debut studio album, released in 1996 and remastered with superior audio in 2007. This album features some of the band’s earliest work and has a much more psychedelic and space rock sound in places than the heavier and more straight-forward albums of their most recent albums. While the band finds the band’s sound mostly fully formed there are still moments here that you wouldn’t find on their later work, this combined with the production style ends up giving the album a distinct character amongst their body of work, making Blue Sky Mind definitely one to try out if you want more than one Sheavy record.

Highlights include the quite/loud shifting ‘Domelight,’ as well as ‘Supahero’ despite its unfortunate comedy intro and the eight-minute eastern tinged ‘Gun-It Jam,’ which is still one of the finest tracks in the bands whole career. The track ‘Sea Of Tomorow’ is also absolutely mandatory listening for Sheavy fans, to hear what the band would sound like if they’d never heard of Sabbath or Ozzy, with its brilliant attitude filled strumming and high pitched vocal stylings. Overall, Blue Sky Mind is a great early Sheavy record and it seems unfortunate that the band have never been able to fulfil their true potential and become as successful as they seem to deserve. Sheavy will never be as well known as some of the bigger American Stoner Bands, perhaps because they are Canadian, perhaps because the Sabbath comparisons are as much of a hindrance as they are a help. Regardless, Sheavy are a great band to check out should you happen to enjoy bands like Monster Magnet, Kyuss and Fu Manchu.