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Saturday, February 21, 2015

CD-Review: H.e.a.t - "Live In London"


The Melodic Rock sensation from Sweden released a terrific album last year. "Tearing Down The Walls" made it on # 01 of my album of the year list and so I was very excited for the first live album from this fantastic band. If you want to know what makes H.e.a.t so special as a live act, then take a look at my live-report from Berlin, which I did last year. It was a phenomenal performance and the question is can H.e.a.t transport this energy of their shows into your living room?




The simple answer is: yes, they can! On "Live in London" you'll get to hear one hell of a show. 67 Minutes of pure high-voltage, melodic Hard Rock entertainment! The sound and atmosphere is awesome. H.e.a.t come along with a heavier edge in their live-shows and it really made me feel like "damn, I want to party and I want to see this band again!".
The "live-feeling" is also very good - you hear the crowd sing along and cheering and so on, but the focus is always on the band. So the recording seems very natural, although I have to admit that the audience sounds a bit "stadium-sized". That means H.e.a.t played this show in a smaller venue and on CD it sounds like they were playing in a huge arena with a massive crowd. Maybe they took the crowd of a festival and mixed it up with their gig in London, I don't know. It just feels this way, but it doesn't bother the listening experience and to be honest: I would like to see H.e.a.t performing in sold out stadiums, because they simply deserve it and their music and sound is made for huge arenas.
The band performance is top-notch and straight to the point. Erik Grönwall hits every single note and also the rest of the band sounds so tight, it's a pleasure to hear them rocking' out with their fans.


So everything fine so far, but there are also some disappointing things. First of all: the setlist. It consists mostly of songs from their latest two records. There are just two tracks from the older ones on this album and I think some fans won't like this. The mix between old and new songs could have been much better here.
The next thing is that the album feels a bit "unloving" - but this isn't the bands fault. Let me explain this on two things: Why they didn't put the whole show on this record? You get to hear 15 songs, but in general H.e.a.t. played around 18 songs per night during this tour. That means 3 songs are cut off. Why? If I buy a live-record I'd like to have the full experience - completely uncut. I don't want to miss something. Then there is another question: why the hell they didn't put a live-DVD or Blu-Ray into the package? That would have been true fanservice and you know today it's kind of standard to have a Blu-Ray or a DVD together with a live-record in one package, so why not here? I think those decisions were made by the label and so it feels like they put out this live album to make quickly some more money. But like I said - this has nothing to do with the band, because they gave 150% during this show and so it's still very enjoyable - it just has this kind of bitter aftertaste.


Finally this is a very good live document of one of the best Melodic Rock bands we have right now. The performance and sound is awesome and it's great to hear the live-versions of beloved songs. The thing is that this album could have been much more than this. It doesn't feel like the "full and complete package". This is sad, because it's wasted potential. Nevertheless, fans will get what they are looking for and this record is also recommended as a starting point for those of you who haven't heard about H.e.a.t. before. Listen to it and get addicted!!!

8/10


Tracklist:

01. Point Of No Return
02. A Shot At Redemption
03. Better Off Alone
04. 1.000 Miles
05. It's All About Tonight
06. Inferno
07. Tearing Down The Walls
08. Mannequin Show
09. Late Night Lady
10. In And Out Of Trouble
11. Downtown
12. Enemy In Me
13. Emergency
14. Breaking The Silence
15. Living On The Run

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