Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Jaded Heart
Label: Fastball Music Records
Release: 2014
Running time: 49:26
Rating: 4.5/5
Jaded Heart, longtime veterans of German hard rock based in the Rhine-Westphalia region and operating as a German-Swedish outfit since 2005, are back on the scene with a new album, »Fight the System«. It’s their 12th in a very respectable 22 years of existence.
The band, who toured Europe in 2012 (alongside Hartmann) and 2013 (alongside Masterplan) in support of their then-current album »Common Destiny« (2012), have also pulled a new live document out of that very tour, called »Live at Cologne« (2013). After that tour, original founding member and drummer Axel Kruse (also of Mad Max) left the band at the start of this year, replaced in the ranks by Bodo Stricker of Callejon. Stricker also jumped right into the recording of the new album. The tour with Masterplan forged new friendships, so Masterplan singer Rick Altzi joined Jaded Heart in the studio as a special guest for the vocal duets on the new track Control. For the new album, Jaded Heart also brought in a different team of sound engineers (the duo of Jan Vacik and Mario Lochert), who helped shape the sound of the album’s production, as opposed to »Common Destiny«, where the band worked with two proven old hands of German sound engineering, Claus Lausmann and Michael Voss.
The result is the heaviest and darkest album of Jaded Heart’s career. If we take just the 11 new songs (leaving out the two bonus tracks), the band has kept up the high musical quality on the new record too, which has been their constant throughout their career. Soaring, melodic choruses that grab you from the first listen and burrow straight into your ear are with us all the way through this time as well. But when the listener gets to a track like Terror in Me, they’re more than a little surprised by the dark, rolling, aggressive riff, over which Fahlberg’s irritated, authoritative vocals, full of destruction, arch up, which is not exactly an everyday thing for the band. The production is distinctly metal-fied. In that respect, Jaded Heart come very close to the cranked-up production style used by Denmark’s Pretty Maids, except that on Jaded Heart the keyboards sit clearly lower in the mix.
There’s absolutely nothing to complain about here, since after just two years, which flew by in a flash since the release of »Common Destiniy«, the band has put out another excellent studio album. A little different, but definitely tailor-made for all fans of European melodic hard rock, with a distinctly cranked-up, rocking German production in the vein of Mad Max, Fair Warning, Frontline, and Pink Cream 69 too. The band has expertly backed Fahlberg’s leading melodic vocal lines in the choruses with excellent vocal harmonies, something Jaded Heart have mastered with great finesse since the very beginning of their career. The songs are marked by an exceptionally dynamic, gradually built progression of moods, with an atmospheric crescendo in the chorus melodies. Opening track Schizophrenic is a killer, since in the verse Fahlberg uses a stylistic approach that comes within an inch of Geoff Tate’s (Queensryche) vocal style. Given that this is the only such moment on the new album, it’s safe to assume this vocal approach was chosen on purpose. But it sounds great in the song. And that’s what matters and counts. Peter Östros, that excellent Swedish musician who makes his living teaching guitar, has once again contributed some gourmet guitar phrases and inventive solutions in his choice of guitar embellishments, which sit above the main lead phrases. The subtly melodic use of guitar within the track Control stands out in particular, and in general Östros is once again to be admired for his seasoned, filigree technique and aesthetic mastery of six-string theory. Especially in the »mid eight« passages of the songs. His finesse is unbelievable in the way he influences the mood shifts within the songs, such as the ultra-melodic »mid-eight« part of the dark Terror In Me, which brings a more pronounced atmospheric contrast to the track! In this case, the guitarist uses his melodic aesthetic to lighten the song’s otherwise dark mood. Östros is one of the best European hard rock guitarists, and he remains unjustly overlooked.
»Fight The System« is an album full of typical Jaded Heart melodic trademarks, and the band once again delivers the best they can and know how. With the new album, Jaded Heart remain a towering musical force in the field of European melodic hard rock. Let’s hope this album finally helps them step out of the shadow of unfair neglect on the scene.
Lineup
Johan Fahlberg – vocals
Peter Östros – guitar
Henning Wanner – keyboards, guitar, backing vocals
Michael Mueller – bass guitar, backing vocals
Bodo Stricker – drums
GUEST VOCALIST:
Rick Altzi (Masterplan) – vocals on track no. 2
Production
Jaded Heart, Jan Vacik & Mario Lochert
