From the first beautifully engineered clacks of the drums, I was guessing this wasn’t Heavens first release. It’s rare that you ever get a band that sounds this polished and clean on a debut, unless the record company sees commercial value in them. Due to the fact that I haven’t seen much press for Heavens around the place, I thought I would investigate into this.

Turns out that Heavens is the genius creation of Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio and Joe Steinbuck from F-Minus. Skiba worked on the lyrics while Steinbuck handled the instrumental side of things. Patent Pending’s has been a work in process since the year 2000, but it’s been more than worth the wait.

During that time, Heaven have obviously tapped into their various influences which they list as Brian Eno, Sisters Of Mercy, Wire and Television. All of these influences truly shine through Skibas vocals that he unrolls during the course of Patent Pending. It’s not just Skiba’s influences that makes Patent Pending work, but also Steinbucks eclectic instrumentals that make this album shine.

Counting could easily come off as a song performed by Depeche Mode with Steinbucks bass lines and guitar riffs. However, Skiba’s vocals sound like a cocktail of The Killers with a dash of She Wants Revenge with Skibas low droning. The opener Gardens wouldn’t sound out of place on a New Order album with the guitar riffs bouncing off a powerful drum beat. Dead End Girl opens with a beat that sounds like the beginning to a Veronicas song but then (thankfully!) clashes into a very light and airy, radio friendly alternative rock song.

Aside from Skibas amazing vocal work and Steinbucks grand instrumentals is the fantastic lyrical styles. “Telling you to run away and hide/To early in the day for talking/I got a feeling you're busy painting/Children in death and decay” Skiba blunty speaks of the love of his life who is suffering from depression on the track Heather. Another Night sounds like a tale of alcohol and drug use with such lyrics as “They left you with nothing/And left me for dead/Went out and lost your senses/Went out and lost my head”.

Heavens have created Patent Pending in a relaxed, non-stressful manner which has made this album a definite winner. Skiba and Steinbuck work as amazing team and do a great job at keeping this album as simple and un-cluttered as possible which makes their lyrics and instrumentals shine. While I haven’t any material from Alkaline Trio or F-Minus, Heaven’s has enough content to glow on its own. A worthwhile listen.