Greg: In a world full of Vampires, teenagers fighting each other in a hungry Running-Man, and seemingly complete disregard for social interaction unless via social media it is as good a time as any to get back to something real.

You would be hard pressed to find a sound more real than Heaven’s Jail. Even though we are familiar with the band from their release Angelmaker, through their latest release Ace Called Zero there is a new sense of clarity covered in a shroud of smokey rock while donning a spiked leather jacket and the attitude to suit.

Clay: Are you done yelling at kids to get off your lawn?  I think Clint Eastwood needs his M1 Garand rifle back…  While vampires and the Hunger Games are as real as the Easter Bunny, I am generally loath to call any music more “real” or “authentic” than any other.  While we can debate what is real until Plato finds his way out of that damn cave, we can use other words to describe Heaven’s Jail Band.  Somber, raw, you covered smoky, doom-folk, classic.  Do any of those words work for you?

Greg: Classic is a key term when referring to Heaven’s Jail, especially Ace. There is a classic air among the sobering rock that just isn’t made anymore. There is no glitz, no glam, just poetry accompanying fuzzy guitar and unadulterated rhythms. Tracks like “Home” and “Long Island Sound” convey a sense of almost Southern Rock mixed with a basement gin joint in a dark recess of big city while the rest of the real hustles about above the harmonies and beats. Ace Called Zero has me seriously thinking that this may be the best Jail one could ever experience.

Clay: And listening to this album makes me wish there was an underground gin joint nearby.  It plays like a live set and seems like the appropriate time and place to listen to it; working out on the treadmill or at kids parties?  Not so much.  Well, maybe “Mother Mary Madonna” could make it onto a running mix; the four-chord progression flirts with pop closer than any other track.  “Hunter’s Moon” is another one that orbits the planet of Psychedelic Rock and not just because of its seven minute runtime; those tones get super watery through all the fuzz.  It’s the kind of music that makes you want to lean up against a wall and slide down it real slow.

Greg: Ace Called Zero is precisely what I didn’t know I needed as a follow up to Angelmaker. It is wholeheartedly Heaven’s Jail, but they have successfully spread their ominous wings full of images of the macabre and things that make you really think. They aren’t out to make everyone happy and frankly it doesn’t seem like they care. But with all that being said I found it incredibly difficult to not be drawn into the gaze of an Ace Called Zero.

Clay and Greg co-founded Nanobot and have a love for things that make you go “hmmmm”.