Review HEAVY WATER ‘Dreams of Yesterday’

‘Dreams of Yesterday’ is the continuation of a project that had its beginning in 2021. Seb Byford and his father, the legendary Biff Byford worked together under the banner of Heavy Water and unveiled an album called ‘Red Brick City’.

Originally being a lockdown project, the guys discovered a lot of fun working without boundaries on music they like. The only directing giving framework is the own musical passion that leads to songs being inspired by the sound of the 70s but also includes some grunge-driven moments. Think about a fusion of Led Zeppelin with the sound of bands like Alice In Chains. This at least gives a hint about the musical focus of Heavy Water.

The title track kicks off this exciting journey through the fields of rock music. Provided with a solid groove the opener is a smoothly rocking tune with the father/son combination working together in great fashion. Although Biff Byford’s iconic voice is directly connected to the sound of Saxon one tends to forget this link for a moment due to the different context.

The power of rock is what unfolds with ‘Don’t Take it for Granted’ while ‘How Much Can You Take’ is more of an energetic rocker that blasts with power.

The calmer and dark ‘Castaway’ mirrors the grunge inspiration before ‘Shadow of Life’ shows some 70s moments. And on it goes with the upbeat ‘Another Day’ which is a straight-forward rocker, boiled down to the essence. ‘Be My Saviour’ is built on a similar approach before the grooving ‘Chain Reaction’ adds another shade to the mix. Last but not least there is ‘Life to Live’ which is calmer and relaxed song with a bluesy vibe, also showing the width of sounds the album offers.

‘Dreams of Yesterday’ is tighter than the debut and the approach is wider. Combined with a down-to-earth passion for the power of rock’n’roll the album is a great way to follow a musical vision outside the frames of the mothership.