Label: Massacre Records
Release date: 14. 10. 2022
Production: Jaded Heart
Album length: 49.32 min
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 8.5/10
Jaded Heart are an interesting band with two pretty different eras. In the first, they were riding the wave of almost scoring a big commercial breakthrough. That was the era with Michael Bormann in the lineup, and in their songwriting and sound the band often liked to draw inspiration from Def Leppard. After the album “Trust” (2004), things started to change. The band brought in singer Johan Fahlberg and, over the albums that followed, reached for harder and harder production approaches. That eventually culminated in the band’s decision to give up the permanent keyboardist spot and hand it to another guitarist instead. Since 2014, Jaded Heart have been making albums that are seriously heavy and jagged, with sharply honed phrasing. Even though they keep their feet planted in hard rock territory, at times they flat-out cross the line between hard rock and heavy metal. Stylistically they’re now closer to bands like Dream Evil or Primal Fear, although they remain part of that handful of Central European hard rock acts, closest of all to German ones like Mad Max or Bonfire. Jaded Heart are also developing a distinctly dark streak, without a shred of the sugary excess that was typical of the band in their first era. The riffing on Sweet Sensation even draws a dose of inspiration from the classic Judas Priest.
That transition split their fanbase. The band, which today is about half German and half Swedish in terms of lineup, remains defiant though! Even though they seem doomed to forever and unfairly grind it out in clubs, they stay committed and true to their musical direction, which has produced a string of very, very good albums. Sadly, when it comes to promotion, these albums keep failing one after another to win the band wider recognition among fans of heavier sounds, even though Jaded Heart have deserved it for ages.
“Heart Attack” is the band’s fifth album in a row recorded with an unchanged lineup, following in the footsteps of “Stand Your Ground” (2020), »Devils’ Gift« (2018), »Guilty by Design« (2016) and »Fight The System« (2014). The bristling, hard-hitting production, with the ruffled two-guitar attack up front and the aggressive yet melodic, clean vocals of the commanding Fahlberg, pays off in full on their latest release too. The album packs a series of venomous slappers, or rather vampirically metallized hard rock wrecking balls, running between three and five minutes, led by the excellent opening, under-the-skin stomper Blood Red Skies. Alongside them, though, there’s also one of the longest compositions the band has ever recorded, the eight-plus-minute Descent, where the guys allowed themselves a bit more experimentation within their otherwise settled and strictly fixed style.
“Heart Attack” once again boasts a distinctly polished songwriting craft. The band has served up another series of excellent fresh ideas, which form the basis of a hugely appealing, high-octane record charged with eruptive voltage, strengthened by a pronounced dark atmosphere and, despite the overall pomp, captured especially in the chorus melodies. In those, Jaded Heart have once again kept up their (masterful) habit of adding extra vocal harmonies, which is really the only element today that still links them to their early era. One of the strongest compositions sits in the second half of the album. That’s Right Now, with an especially gripping chorus that creates a striking contrast with the verse and pre-chorus.
The ‘middle eight’ passages are reserved for an excellent dialogue of solo acrobatics between the two guitarists, which impresses with its fluidity, precision and devilish toughness, bringing contrasting swerves in mood and boosting the high dynamics of the album’s development. This time, listening to the new album leaves you with the feeling that the band has never made such a hard record in their career until now. Especially because of the album’s distinctly dark atmosphere, which doesn’t skimp on razor-sharp fury in its expression. The final nail in the coffin of that realization is hammered in by the closing Midnight Stalker, which comes across in its arrangements not just as distinctly dark, but downright wicked.
With their fifteenth album, Jaded Heart remain a firmly saddled crew in their colorful career, a guarantee of the best. Simply put. They master their musical recipe, which has proven to ignite, to perfection, and so they diligently and faithfully stick to their musical craft. The musical formula they know best. In that they stay dogged and uncompromising. Over the years they’ve become distinctly angry and thunderous, which makes them more compatible with the reach of European power metal than with the hard rock they primarily come from. Let’s hope some of the bigger European metal bands take them along on tour, because the music of “Heart Attack” deserves to be presented to as many fans of ‘distorted’ music as possible.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
1. Blood Red Skies
2. Sweet Sensation
3. Heart Attack
4. Harvester Unknown
5. Lady Spider
6. Descent
7. Remnants Of Before
8. Right Now
9. It’s About Time
10. Bridges Are Burning
11. Midnight Stalker
Lineup:
Johan Fahlberg – vocals
Peter Östros – guitar
Masahiro Eto – guitar
Michael Müller – bass
Bodo Stricker – drums
Guest musician:
Niklas Dahlin (Insania) – guitar solo on track no. 8
