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With a sound that's blues-rooted but steeped in Stooges sludge, the Heavies' cranky, cranked-up sets burn black as tire fires. Stylistically, BDH is often lumped in with R.L. Burnside and Tom Waits. That's a fine place to start, but the comparison misses the band's joy and boogie. Instead, think Exile on Main Street recorded in Howlin' Wolf's casket. Nothing smooth or clean here. Just eight-bar skronk in bad need of a tetanus shot.

Muddy Waters never could've predicted what today's blues would sound like when he left us in 1983, but The Black Diamond Heavies do the tradition right, with a painfully coarse oeuvre of lyrical introspection, and an ass-kickin' sound that'll whip everyone into submission, breaking down mental barriers and pushing us towards sublime clarity, where the sordid meets the divine. Perhaps it's a taste of the spiritual, when Myers is onstage with drummer Van Campbell. Thank the Lord that the devil got hold of Myers, who is the son of a Baptist preacher. He first proved his mettle on the most angelic of gospel tunes before gleaning inspiration from the darker arts.

When you think of 'bluesy garage rock,' blaring electric guitar coming out of an overdriven amp is usually the key musical ingredient. But the Tennessee duo who goes by the name of Black Diamond Heavies completely forgot use of a six string, as a Fender Rhodes electric piano takes its place throughout their debut, 2007's 'Every Damn Time.' Surprisingly, the move results in a down n' dirty good time. Gravely, whiskey soaked vocals straight out of the Tom Waits songbook (courtesy of John Wesley Myers) are on display throughout -- but especially on the album opener, "Fever in my Blood." Elsewhere, "Poor Brown Sugar" contains a strutting riff that sounds like a direct descendent of "Spirit in the Sky," "Leave it in the Road" proves once and for all that Fender Rhodes can be one of the funkiest instruments on the planet, while both "All to Hell" and "Stitched in Sin" are soulful -- almost gospel-sounding -- ditties.