URIAH HEEP

Some flames seem unquenchable, endlessly renewed motivating passions that keep going despite passing years and generations, here offering an album with eclectic hues, there concerts that undermine standardised ideas. Appearing in the heart of 1969, even though the small initial band had been playing together since 1967, Uriah Heep's spark has never stopped, throughout these last evaporated in a snap of fingers fifty years, shining, holding high the flame of a progressive heavy metal able to roll an audience over with great reinforcements of energetic hymns, epic flights and stunning solos.

And if their name is not as well known to the general public as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Queen or Black Sabbath who contributed, like them, to lay the foundations of a flamboyant english hard rock, Uriah Heep has nonetheless keep on living through decades, conscientiously aligning albums, tours and immortal titles such as "Lady in black", "July morning", "Sweet Lorraine", "The wizzard", "Gypsy" or even "Easy livin '", to name only a few of the so many jewels that adorn their 30 or so albums released until now. Long-term adventurers, Mick Box (guitarist and now only survivor of the initial line-up), Phil Lanzon (keyboards), Bernie Shaw (vocals), Russell Gilbrook (drums) and Dave Rimmer (bass), continue to live their dream awake without trying to jostle those who, for a long time or not, follow them, re-creating unceaselessly a groove made of fast songs, with a masterly executed classicism that sometimes flirts with progressive, titles totally anchored in present time and others with a foot, if not both, rooted to 70's musical foundings.

With a lot of simplicity and undisguised happiness, the quintet traces its way at its own pace, delighting its fans, waking the sleepy heads during concerts with a communicative energy and achieving the challenge - unfortunately not so frequent - of regularly producing non-repetitive albums that never sink, like so many others, into banality or self-plagiarism.

Therefore, at a time when a new world tour is announced for the London band, how not to be happy to be able to celebrate, between connoisseurs gathered in Guitare en Scène white-heated arena, the 50th anniversary of an authentic heavy metal legend !