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October 8, 2008 |
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01. Heed Hades
02. I Am Alive
03. Last Drop Of Blood
04. Ashes
05. Enemy
06. Salvation
07. Tears Of Prodigy (Fallen Angel)
08. The Other Side
09. Hypnosis
10. Moments
11. The Permanent End Celebration
12. Nothing
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In 2001, newcomers LOST HORIZON hailing from Sweden released their debut album, "Awakening The World", and immediately became one of the most praised Power Metal acts from Europe, earning some of the highest ratings possible in every single magazine worldwide. It was then safe to say that those guys had all it took to get to the top: super solid and ultra-melodic songs, very skillful musicians and above all, one of the most impressive voices ever heard in Metal, LOST HORIZON's frontman Daniel Heiman. Two years later, the follow-up "A Flame To the Ground Beneath" was finally released. Even if the spirit of the first album remained mostly intact, lots of people at the time were disappointed with the fact that, despite consisting of nine tracks, the whole thing actually contained only six songs, if you take out the over two-minute intro, more than three minutes of an outro and an instrumental titled "The Song Of The Earth". All of them exclusively involved keyboard arrangements à la Jean-Michel Jarre! Besides the guitar solos (which had originally given LOST HORIZON such an aggressive edge compared to other acts in the same genre), the album was almost overwhelmed by the keys.
When Daniel Heiman and guitarist Fredrik Olsson left LOST HORIZON because of obvious musical dissensions, and after HEIMAN's brief association with CRYSTAL EYES on their disc, "Confession Of The Maker", both men decided to form their own group. Shortly thereafter, HEED was born. Right off the bat, it is clear that HEED has chosen a different path from LOST HORIZON with their debut album, "The Call". Tracks such as "I Am Alive" or "Last Drop Of Blood" seem to get started at a slower pace but also at a much heavier level and include very little keyboards, except for a few arrangements all taken care of by Fredrik Olsson, therefore leaving plenty of room for the guitars . As always the voice of Daniel Heiman is very impressive. It is clear that we are dealing with one of the best singers of all time in Heavy Metal. The drums, also assumed by another former LOST HORIZON member Mats Karlson, accompanied by the bass of Jörgen Olsson, are both double-pounding with confident authority.
"The Call" contains absolute Power Metal masterpieces like "Enemy", "Salvation" and "The Other Side" (my two personal favorites if I can even pick them) or the very optimistic (very unusual in Metal) "The Permanent End Celebration" , which should take this album, if I'm correct, to my Top 3 of the best releases of 2006. It seems that despite the multitude of extremely talented bands today's scene has to offer, HEED stands out as one of the highest hopes for Melodic Metal all together. The restless level of intensity in this album is what makes all the difference between a great album and a classic.
As far as I'm concerned, if HEED can keep it up by continuing to release such rare gems as "The Call" in the years to come, they will soon deserve a place among the giants (just listen to the very aggressive "Hypnosis" and the catchy "Moments"). This album freakin' rocks; if you haven't bought it yet and this review hasn't convinced you to do so, you might want to reconsider your tastes in music. HEED have all the potential to rule the world of Heavy Metal.
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