sirlemonhead

The original guitarist is Jonathan Carlemar and it doesn't sound like he's back?

Nah, I like that this is their thing.

Lol yeah a bit dramatic

After a couple of listens, I actually quite like this a lot. It's a real grower. It stands out a bit more than some of the songs on the new album and it'd be nicer to have than some of the filler stuff on side B of that. The mastering is shit, like the album, unfortunately.

Bitrate isn't going to affect the brickwalling at all. I've got uncompressed FLAC too but I'm listening on good headphones rather than in a car or on a phone so it's probably to do with that.

The Facebook page for the band is full of buttkissers. The band could put out a CD of them all farting into a microphone and they'd all say they love it. I've listened to it a bit more now myself and I do like the songs too

All their previous albums are brickwalled to some extent, but the new one is just incredibly bad. It genuinely becomes uncomfortable for me to listen to the new album for more than one song at a time.

It's actually difficult to figure out the lyrics sometimes, on Tainted Blood for example

Phew, I'm glad it's not just me that hates the brickwalling.

I'm really disappointed in this album. I think it's probably automatically going to become my least favourite H.E.A.T release due to the mastering. It's fucking LOUD. The levels have all been pushed to 100% so everything is just a mush of white noise. I put the album on last night and had ear fatigue by about 4 songs in. I skipped around but can't really form much of an opinion on the songs yet bar that I like Not for Sale quite a lot. I was so excited to hear Kenny again but he sounds quite buried in the mix. You can't even really tell what the guitars are doing in the choruses due to that pumping mush of noise. I dunno if I can manage a full playthrough of the thing It's awful. I have the vinyl arriving today and I hope to god it's better.

Thank you for the free CD I got to listen to before everyone else! 10/10

Yeah another weak chorus which seems to be their thing the last two albums unfortunately. Mastering is FUCKING loud again - my ears hurt after listening to it. Am loving having Kenny back all the same!

It gives me strong Iron Maiden vibes, which I don't like and don't want from H.E.A.T but it's not a bad song at all.

Kenny is definitely a little bit lower in the mix than the vocals on the previous few albums. The mastering itself doesn't sound great - the whole thing sounds really hot, granted I've only listened to the Spotify version so hard but it's one of those ear tiring modern 'everything on 10' no dynamics masterings. I like it in general, Kenny sounds really good as expected, right out the bat I love how he sings that first line. The chorus is fairly weak, very similar to the choruses on the previous album, slightly repetitive and a little annoying to be honest..

Can't wait for this!

My CD is on it's way...only I accidentally put my work address for delivery and I don't know when I'll be back there. Woops! Was looking forward to it too

I've never been able to tell the two Freedom Rock versions apart, production wise. There's other differences I don't like on the Korean that make me preference the other one - Kenny sings the second verse of Black Night on the scandi version, Tobias on the Korean. The solo on Everybody wants to be someone is missing a part at the start on the Korean. Those are the two that spring to mind but I'd need to go back and listen to it again to recall the other differences. There's a 'Tour Edition' of the first album that sounds a bit different - bassier, but I think a bit muddier. I prefer the standard release, though the Tour Edition has the 'proper' version of 'Intro' which blends perfectly into There for you unlike the weird abruptness of the standard release (Intro is 33 seconds long on Tour Edition, 20 on standard)

Aye it's all terribly over dramatic!

Me neither - it's like a joke almost, how weird it seems to me. Like the guys were planning an April Fool's joke and thought "what's the maddest scenario we could pull on the fans?" Fucking love Kenny though so this news has an upside at least for me!

Love this album, particularly Danger calling. Found the band originally on Youtube in 2006 I think.. a suggestion for the song 'world war' Figured they were pretty obscure but did manage to meet a few people since then that have heard of them!

Rock your body Rock your body Rock your body Rock your body Rock your body! Oh man, it really does grate so much!

Yeah, another person here who thinks Rock your body is decent. The chorus is really bad, but I think musically the rest of it is really good. The solo is particularly tasty, especially those opening bends Rise is the perfect outro song IMO. Oh, I'm thinking one of the highlights of the album is the solo section in Victory - the keys starting, then Dave, then ends a bit Racer Xish

Aye Dave and Jona were always the main writers, back on the first few albums. We are gods is cack though. I've been skipping it every time I've listened to the album the last few days.

I've had my first listen and still think One by One, Dangerous Ground and Rise are the highlights. Some choruses and lyrics are... not very good. Too much word repetition. Also.. so.much.awful.rhyming.

Yeah Dangerous Ground is my favourite at the moment - probably due to overplaying Rise and One by One :D