H.e.a.t - H.e.a.t II

[The Rocker]

3 hours ago, simo said:

Appreciate the honest opinion, it's a good album there's no doubt about that. But I sat through it once now and I agree there might be some issues with replay value or some ''generic'' feeling moments

Rock Your Body is a decent song, but unless I pay the whole alum through it won't be played again. The ballad is just ok at best.
Come Clean
One By One
Rise
HMHWAA
Dangerous Ground
Adrenaline
Under the gun
are all jems
Victory and We Are Gods are decent

[AlphaMale]

I agree with all of you. Outstanding album with 7 or 8 absolute monsters.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

I'm not gonna lie, the first sping was a little underwhelming. But I think once the hype wears off, and I'm more familiar with the songs, it'll grow on me. The songs that are good are amazing, but some are just plodding. 

[sirlemonhead]

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.

[Gotthardline]

Just now, sirlemonhead said:

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.

Agreed

its a nice album but it’s not a perfect album by any means

[zacharyamelie]

My track by track score

Rock My Body - 8.5 reminds me of early Kenny era H.E.A.T....cheesy but solid

Dangerous Ground - 9 dangerous to drive to

Come Clean - 10 simply perfect!

Victory - 9 very Eclipse like

We Are Gods - 9 this one live must just slay..more Eclipse sounding

Adrenaline - 9 great track, cheesy chorus but still love it

One by One - 10 awesome track

Nothing To Say - 8  picks up by the end but kinda slows the momentum of the album...sure isn’t anywhere near as good as Follow Me from the debut. 

Heaven Must Have Won An Angel - 10 this awesome track needs to be a single...killer! AOR fans will love this one. 

Under The Gun - 8.5 solid....again very Eclipse like

Rise - 10 anthem perfection...still reminds me of Eclipse....no kidding Andrew scored this one 100% over MR.com....I find it to be very similar to Eclipse on many tracks. 

 

 

[Kim_Hp]

IMO, "Address the Nation" is still their best record with Erik. Closely followed by "Tearing Down the Walls" and this one. 

That said, "Dangerous Ground" has to be their best song since "Danger Road".

 

[KarpetRydOFunk]

44 minutes ago, Kim_Hp said:

IMO, "Address the Nation" is still their best record with Erik. Closely followed by "Tearing Down the Walls" and this one. 

That said, "Dangerous Ground" has to be their best song since "Danger Road".

 

Are you maybe just attracted to danger?

;}

[Kim_Hp]

3 minutes ago, KarpetRydOFunk said:

Are you maybe just attracted to danger?

;}

Could be 

[Glen]

I get the comments about repeating the lyrics in choruses and usually that would be BAD but......this is done so damn well.

OK Rock your body is a bit throwaway but songs like Victory & Adrenaline are so catchy. 

I'm never that keen on a ballad and this one is just ok imo.....I would have preferred a big ending and solo maybe.

But they've crafted a great album and they've listened to their fans (even if I was one of the few who loved ITTGU), and gone back to what they do best. 

[AlphaMale]

Do agree about the Eclipse comparisons.

[Mafisen]

8 hours ago, AlphaMale said:

Do agree about the Eclipse comparisons.

I agree with you about not agreeing with the Eclipse comparisons. 

 

For me, this is the best Heat album. I like that it's a bit harder, a bit rougher. That will make the songs last longer. I see myself playing this one a lot and going back to songs like Dangerous Ground, Victory, We Are God's etc etc time and time again. 

[CureTheSane]

On 2/21/2020 at 9:36 PM, Gotthardline said:

only had one playthrough but I felt a little underwhelmed after hearing all the pre released songs 

I didn't listen to any samples purposefully.
Just heard the album in full and my response was a really big whopping M.E.H.

I found it boring and bland.
Nothing fresh and certgainly didn't pick up on any harder edge to previouse releases.

Right now lostning to Collateral and much more impressed. Much.

Maybe HEAT will improve with more listens, but I'd be surprised if I get more than 4 or 5 keepers even if I can turn it around.
Better songs seemed to be in the second half on first listen, with my only stand out RIse.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

55 minutes ago, CureTheSane said:

I didn't listen to any samples purposefully.
Just heard the album in full and my response was a really big whopping M.E.H.

I found it boring and bland.
Nothing fresh and certgainly didn't pick up on any harder edge to previouse releases.

Right now lostning to Collateral and much more impressed. Much.

Maybe HEAT will improve with more listens, but I'd be surprised if I get more than 4 or 5 keepers even if I can turn it around.
Better songs seemed to be in the second half on first listen, with my only stand out RIse.

Yeah... except that third song will likely be the best song of the year. 

[CureTheSane]

I dunno....
Everyone is creaming themselves over this, and I don't really get it.
After more listens, if I'm wrong, I'll come back here and sdmit it hapily, but for now I'm underwhelmed.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

4 minutes ago, CureTheSane said:

I dunno....
Everyone is creaming themselves over this, and I don't really get it.
After more listens, if I'm wrong, I'll come back here and sdmit it hapily, but for now I'm underwhelmed. 

Yeah, I'm hoping it's a grower, but, for now, I'm happy for the songs I like. 

[Nightrain]

It's a fantastic album but I won't call it their best

Definitely Address The Nation or the debut will be at the top, a coin toss either one of them

after that - I think Freedom Rock is solid, maybe on par with this one, or maybe this one's slightly below

Anyway, it's definitely a contender for this year's winner and still deserved a 90%-ish rating, happy with the result and clearly the best of the last 3

[Glen]

1 hour ago, Nightrain said:

It's a fantastic album but I won't call it their best

Definitely Address The Nation or the debut will be at the top, a coin toss either one of them

after that - I think Freedom Rock is solid, maybe on par with this one, or maybe this one's slightly below

Anyway, it's definitely a contender for this year's winner and still deserved a 90%-ish rating, happy with the result and clearly the best of the last 3

haha. 2 mighty albums coming up! NFO & HS. 

[KarpetRydOFunk]

9 hours ago, Glen said:

haha. 2 mighty albums coming up! NFO & HS. 

I'm hoping they don't disappoint. 

[Tabe]

Had a 3-hour road trip on Friday and listened to this pretty much the whole way there.  This is an excellent, probably my favorite from H.E.A.T outside of "Live in London".  "Rise" is an all-time great song, just an incredible anthemic rocker with a huge sound.  MORE OF THIS, PLEASE.  "Come Clean" is great but I don't like it nearly as much as some of you.  The rest of the album is solid but I can't help but feel a little disappointed after all the hype.  Maybe living up to that hype was an impossible ask, I dunno.  At least two of the songs, "Victory" and....another one that slips my mind at the moment... sound like they were rejected by Eclipse.  Eclipse is my favorite band so sounding like them is not a bad thing but it just doesn't fit what I expect from H.E.A.T.  

Overall, this is an excellent album.  If it ends up not being the best album of the year, then that's a wonderful thing because I would love to hear what tops it.

[Glen]

1 hour ago, Tabe said:

Had a 3-hour road trip on Friday and listened to this pretty much the whole way there.  This is an excellent, probably my favorite from H.E.A.T outside of "Live in London".  "Rise" is an all-time great song, just an incredible anthemic rocker with a huge sound.  MORE OF THIS, PLEASE.  "Come Clean" is great but I don't like it nearly as much as some of you.  The rest of the album is solid but I can't help but feel a little disappointed after all the hype.  Maybe living up to that hype was an impossible ask, I dunno.  At least two of the songs, "Victory" and....another one that slips my mind at the moment... sound like they were rejected by Eclipse.  Eclipse is my favorite band so sounding like them is not a bad thing but it just doesn't fit what I expect from H.E.A.T.  

Overall, this is an excellent album.  If it ends up not being the best album of the year, then that's a wonderful thing because I would love to hear what tops it.

rejected by Eclipse lol. What after some of the average stuff they released on the last album

I'll take Victory over Viva La Victoria any day 

[Geoff]

Jeez this has some balls. Can't think of a band at the moment that mixes balls and melody as well as they've achieved on this. Good lesson for the likes of Dynazty and Jaded Heart etc. to show that you don't need to abandon melody to make a heavier LP. 

Purely first impressions;

Rock Your Body - bit of an odd opener in it's simplicity. But by the second or third chorus I was really into this. Very catchy chorus, despite how basic it is. I can see this being a grower. But it's a very basic opener.

Dangerous Ground - very close to absolute perfection. Monster song.

Come Clean - also very close to perfection.

Victory - first of three kind of chanty hard rockers. But very cool. I do like this one, despite it's inspiro lyrics.

We Are Gods - a pretty cool songs but kind of irritating lyrics. If their tongues are in cheek I kind of missed the memo, but just seems a bit of a toss to me. Still a cool rocker, but one of my least favourite on the album.

Adrenaline - great hard rocker.

One By One - one of my favourites on the album - another killer track.

Nothing To Say - HEAT have never been a ballad band and they don't undo the trend here. It's a good solid song and I prefer it to 'We are the gods,' 'Under the gun' and the opener, but it's the fourth weakest on the album. Maybe third behind the opener. 

Heaven Must Have Won An Angel - another monster hard rocker. Killer.  

Under The Gun - just okay to me. 

Rise - another of the chanty tunes but the best of them. Pretty killer closer to be honest. 

Overall it's a great album. As others have said, about four songs that aren't quite ball tearers, but seven that are... and the weakest four aren't exactly weak. I think it's pretty awesome and it'll be hard to beat this year, I reckon. 

[Glen]

I'm surprised by the We Are Gods comment. Everyone I know who loves HEAT thinks it's monstrous. 

Yeah it's pretentious but it's also F Epic. that chorus & solo. 

Only HEAT could pull that off 

I do agree tho that the ballads on Eriks watch have been kinda weak. On the first 2 albums they were better imo 

[Geoff]

28 minutes ago, Glen said:

I'm surprised by the We Are Gods comment. Everyone I know who loves HEAT thinks it's monstrous. 

Yeah it's pretentious but it's also F Epic. that chorus & solo. 

Only HEAT could pull that off 

I do agree tho that the ballads on Eriks watch have been kinda weak. On the first 2 albums they were better imo 

'We are the gods' is defo a cool tune - I just need to get past those lyrics. Like I said, if I could see a bit of light heartedness in it I'd take it a lot better, but it sounds dead serious and therefore is just a bit of a toss to me. 

I tell you the solo that drives me absolutely insane - the 'Dangerous Ground' one. Sweet christ that is how to structure a guitar solo. Absolutely in love with that. 

The ballads are a shame because Erik's voice is so awesome and he sounds great on the ballads - they're just not their best songs by any means. 

[tts42572]

1 hour ago, Geoff said:

Jeez this has some balls. Can't think of a band at the moment that mixes balls and melody as well as they've achieved on this. Good lesson for the likes of Dynazty and Jaded Heart etc. to show that you don't need to abandon melody to make a heavier LP. 

Purely first impressions;

Rock Your Body - bit of an odd opener in it's simplicity. But by the second or third chorus I was really into this. Very catchy chorus, despite how basic it is. I can see this being a grower. But it's a very basic opener.

Dangerous Ground - very close to absolute perfection. Monster song.

Come Clean - also very close to perfection.

Victory - first of three kind of chanty hard rockers. But very cool. I do like this one, despite it's inspiro lyrics.

We Are Gods - a pretty cool songs but kind of irritating lyrics. If their tongues are in cheek I kind of missed the memo, but just seems a bit of a toss to me. Still a cool rocker, but one of my least favourite on the album.

Adrenaline - great hard rocker.

One By One - one of my favourites on the album - another killer track.

Nothing To Say - HEAT have never been a ballad band and they don't undo the trend here. It's a good solid song and I prefer it to 'We are the gods,' 'Under the gun' and the opener, but it's the fourth weakest on the album. Maybe third behind the opener. 

Heaven Must Have Won An Angel - another monster hard rocker. Killer.  

Under The Gun - just okay to me. 

Rise - another of the chanty tunes but the best of them. Pretty killer closer to be honest. 

Overall it's a great album. As others have said, about four songs that aren't quite ball tearers, but seven that are... and the weakest four aren't exactly weak. I think it's pretty awesome and it'll be hard to beat this year, I reckon. 

Pretty much echo your thoughts on the songs...Although I do like We Are Gods quite a bit.  I just dig the vibe of it...little different to me than other stuff they've done.  

For me, Nothing To Say and Under The Gun are definitely the weakest moments.  Still okay tunes but just weaker than the rest.  

There's a handful of absolutely classic melodic rockers though that will make for killer additions to their live set.  And Rise is absolutely a gem live as it's one people can easily get into.

And yes, some killer Dave Dalone solos on this that are all perfectly done.  It's just so great that he came back to the band.  Also, seems like Dave and Jona wrote most of the songs here so there's that too.  Erik kinda gets all the accolades as the frontman but the other guys clearly play big parts in the band.

Just a great return to form and I think they tried hard here to give the fans what they wanted after many complaints about the last album being too commercial, experimental or whatever.