H.E.A.T - Force Majeure (2022)

[J.S.M]

1 hour ago, tts42572 said:

Kenny isn't in Erik's league

He would be if he wasn't trying that hard.

[Eric3]

Oh no, that production...

[Glen]

will play again but I thought at least half filler on first listen. Won't make my top 10 which is crazy for HEAT 

[AlphaMale]

Just ran through for first time and am pretty disappointed. A lot of over singing and the loud mix sucks. A few really nice tunes and a few really shit ones.

What a shame!

[Glen]

2 minutes ago, AlphaMale said:

Just ran through for first time and am pretty disappointed. A lot of over singing and the loud mix sucks. A few really nice tunes and a few really shit ones.

What a shame!

the loud mix is the worst thing. If was just a normal recording it would be a lot better. 

[AlphaMale]

4 minutes ago, Glen said:

the loud mix is the worst thing. If was just a normal recording it would be a lot better. 

Agreed. No excuse for such a brickwalled pile of poop in 2022.

Edited August 5, 2022 by AlphaMale

[sirlemonhead]

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

[AlphaMale]

46 minutes ago, Glen said:

the loud mix is the worst thing. If was just a normal recording it would be a lot better. 

A few of those turds can't be polished though.

 

[Kourosofsteel4]

Wanted to feel it again (see what I did here) but thus far I'm not. 3 listening sections, while doing some chores in the backyard and I didn't touch my booze... Kenny's all over the place and I'm missing Dalone's phrasing and subtle melodies... Love 3 songs though which is minimal considering band's relative density

[Kim_Hp]

Is it just me or is there something seriously wrong with the mix on this one? I listened to it on Spotify and Kenny´s vocals are totally overpowered by the loud guitars. So weird!

[sirlemonhead]

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

[tts42572]

16 hours ago, sirlemonhead said:

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

I seem to recall many saying the same thing about Tearing Down the Walls?

I guess I'm not really hearing it or it's just not bothering me.  It all sounds fine to me.

Or maybe I've just gotten used to it because everything is cranked up these days. 

[sirlemonhead]

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.

[Crazysam]

Gave this a spin this morning.  I wasn't expecting much based on all the negative comments in this thread but I think it's a good album.  Sure Erik is more suited to this style, but I thought Kenny did a solid job.  And the mix isn't great but it's not unlistenable.  A few tracks ("One of Us" and "Paramount") that I thought were just OK, but a handful of standouts for me as well like "Hollywood", "Harder To Breathe", "Not For Sale"  and "Wings Of An Aeroplane".    It falls well short of their best, but I enjoyed it more than I did Into the Great Unknown, which is still my least favorite album from the band.

[lettard]

I like it 

[Kim_Hp]

I'm starting to wonder if my headphones are working properly since so few others seems to have noticed the totally messed up mix on this album. Some on this board seem to have noticed it, but not on FB?

I can't believe the band let this piece of shit through?! It's such a shame, because the songs themselves are fantastic.

Edit: the funny thing is, when I listened to these songs through the speaker of my mobile phone, they sounded just fine to me. When I put the headphones on, it was just a mess.

They should sound better through headphones, not worse. 

Edited August 6, 2022 by Kim_Hp

[Captain Howdy]

Gonna wait to see if this drops in price as it's £16 on Amazon, and I don't even like paying that for albums I know I am gonna like, and being someone who never cared for Kenny era H.E.A.T., I am not gonna risk £16

[sirlemonhead]

2 hours ago, Kim_Hp said:

I'm starting to wonder if my headphones are working properly since so few others seems to have noticed the totally messed up mix on this album. Some on this board seem to have noticed it, but not on FB?

I can't believe the band let this piece of shit through?! It's such a shame, because the songs themselves are fantastic.

Edit: the funny thing is, when I listened to these songs through the speaker of my mobile phone, they sounded just fine to me. When I put the headphones on, it was just a mess.

They should sound better through headphones, not worse. 

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

Edited August 6, 2022 by sirlemonhead

[Kim_Hp]

17 minutes ago, sirlemonhead said:

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

Probably true, but I'm thinking of the melodic rock groups where people are not afraid to critic. No mention of the bad mix in those groups as far as I've seen. 

One could probably make it sound a lot better with some audio software like SoundForge. I'll probably give it a try if both the CD and vinyl are equally bad.

[AlphaMale]

Don't criticize Michael Sweet or you will feel the wrath!

[AlphaMale]

I tried this album again after running it through Audacity and fixing the sound up a bit. 

I just don't think the songs are all that good. Nothing wrong with Kenny's vocals but they lack the "feeling" and intensity of Erik. I may never listen to this album again and that's crazy for how much I loved the Erik years. 

2022's Most Disappointing Album

Edited August 7, 2022 by AlphaMale

[Captain Howdy]

2 hours ago, AlphaMale said:

Don't criticize Michael Sweet or you will feel the wrath!

You don't even have to criticise him. Just say something he does not agree with and you will feel his wrath followed by a thousand bible bashers telling you that you need to get some Jesus in your butt.

[Geoff]

Heard this today and looks like being underwhelmed is nothing different. Musically it's still top notch, but there's quite a few pretty weak songs on this one. Way below par for HEAT. 'Hollywood' and 'Wings Of An Aeroplane' were the two stand outs for me, and a couple of others were okay, but for the most part, really quite underwhelming. 

I like Kenny's vocals and there's no really prevalent issue other than the fact that some of the songs are just poorly written. Sad, yet simple. 

[tobi is an animal]

listened a couple times, a few ok tunes but nothing I feel the need to listen to ever again. shame.

[Jez]

Played as well today and it's ok and has a few good songs, but tbh, I'm starting to get a bit bored with them, as they don't offer up anything they haven't done before. Like the last album, everything on this album has been done to death previously and is as predictable as hell. Of all the new albums I have played recently (and there have been quite a few) this doesn't feature very highly unfortunately.