Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: H.E.A.T.
Label: Ear Music Records
Released: 2014
Running time: 45:08
Rating: 4.5/5
A word or two more about the new, and overall fourth, studio album from Swedish melodic hard rock sensation H.E.A.T. With the release of »Adress the Nation« (2012), the guys truly leapt to a new, much higher level of quality and expression. And that’s far from saying their first two studio albums were sloppy work. These guys, with their unsuspected musical talent, won big sympathies from the home Swedish crowd right out of the gate, and the music scene of the old continent was quick to start embracing H.E.A.T. too.
»Adress the Nation« thoroughly internationalized that same sensation, and H.E.A.T. have become a highly respected name in the music world. With the arrival of charismatic, phenomenal vocalist Erik Grönwall, whom the band discovered after he became the idol of a Swedish reality show, things changed radically for H.E.A.T. For the better. With »Adress the Naton« the band firmed up its »backbone« and sharpened the focus of its musical vision, backed by Scandinavian perfection, which has always demanded a flawless musical package no matter which genre Swedish musicians tackle. H.E.A.T. have thus really started tearing down the walls on their way to the world’s most prominent concert stages.
Album »Tearing Down the Walls« is, no beating around the bush, a record that suggests H.E.A.T. have hit the peak of their creative powers. Guitarist Dave Dalone left the lineup for the new album, and the band decided to grow into a five-piece with just one guitarist, Eric Rivers. These guys have a fascinatingly well-honed knack in their blood for crafting compact, seductively effective melodies that grab you the instant you hear them, and as for the varied but highly compatible mid-eights, we don’t need to waste any extra words.»Tearing Down the Walls« has it all in that respect. It’s an upgrade on its excellent predecessor »Adress the Nation«. It keeps, and even deepens, the exceptional variety of ideas and arrangements across songs that are otherwise cast in the mold of melodic hard rock, compared with its predecessor. From the ultra adrenaline-charged, instantly melodic opener Point of No Return, to the playful A Shot At Redemption, backed by a »country folk« guitar (released as the album’s first single), the swaggering, glammy, catchy Inferno and Enemy in Me, and on to the rousing anthems like the title track and the closing Laughing At Tomorrow, with keyboards that work as a string orchestra. Energy, vibration, a touch of melancholy, yet at the same time heartfelt rallying spirit. Crafting a melody, adding melodic folk flourishes. All of that belongs to the typical way music gets perceived at the Scandinavian end of the planet. Be it Roxette, or ABBA, and last but not least H.E.A.T. The core of the arrangements of songs like Mannequin Show (released as the album’s second single) or Eye for an Eye could easily have been used by the two groups just mentioned, each in the key of its own particular way of arranging.
The icing on all this phenomenal impact of »Tearing Down the Walls« is a convincing atmospheric crescendo, always developed so effectively by hair-splittingly polished chorus melodies. You’ll have to pick your favorites yourself. »Tearing Down the Walls« doesn’t have a bad moment. Everything is top-notch in how it’s packaged and served. Compared with the predecessor, the band this time puts more attention on finding a balance between the keyboards and the guitar. The keyboards are often repackaged to work as an orchestra and occasionally even push to the front of the arrangements, as in the phenomenal ballad All the Nights, written in collaboration with Danny Vaughn (Tyketto), or the title track. As long as H.E.A.T. keep chiseling out ultra-melodically optimized choruses like those on Emergency and/or the closing Laughing At Tomorrow, they’ll keep reaping praise from music critics, as well as huge popularity among everyone who loves the melodic hard rock genre.
Lineup
Erik Grönwall – vocals
Eric Rivers – guitar
Jona Tee – keyboards
Jimmy Jay – bass guitar
Crash – drums
Production
Tobias Lindell
Track list
1. Point Of No Return
2. A Shot At Redemption
3. Inferno
4. The Wreckoning (instrumental)
5. Tearing Down The Walls
6. Mannequin Show
7. We Will Never Die
8. Emergency
9. All The Nights
10. Eye For An Eye
11. Enemy In Me
12. Laughing At Tomorrow
