Heavy Meta by Ron Gallo

Heavy Meta, Ron Gallo's second solo album, arrived on New West Records in February 2017, three years after the singer who had fronted Philadelphia's Toy Soldiers struck out on his own. Ahead of release, NPR premiered the video for "Please Yourself", in which Gallo plays from the back of a truck and ties up an intersection in downtown Nashville, and hailed the record as a burst of literate electricity.

It's scrappy, wiry garage rock with a wisecracker's grin and a head full of ideas, and "Young Lady, You're Scaring Me" is the one that made the countdowns. Critics were mostly on board, with Metacritic scoring it 72, and Gallo took it on the road with bassist Joe Bisirri and drummer Dylan Sevey behind him, sharing bills with White Reaper, Thee Oh Sees, the Black Angels and FIDLAR.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.