H.E.A.T ‘II’, perfection is thy name.

Artists, bands, labels, managers, songwriters….listen up, pay attention and understand - this is how it’s done.

H.E.A.T have thrown off the experimentations of Into The Great Unknown (which I still think was great in its own way), ditched long-time producer Tobias Lindell and gone all in-house for their remarkable 6th album.

The result is H.E.A.T ‘II’, an album that doesn’t just politely knock on your door, rather it sees the band roll up in a 49-ton bulldozer, run over your lawn, crash through the door and bulldoze right through your house and out the other side.

This is a no holes barred, take no prisoners, earth shattering slice of classic melodic hard rock, where every single element is simply perfect. And every element helps make the other aspects of the album sound even better.

Crash drums like an absolute madman, his playing not only more powerful and bombastic than ever, but it’s also more technical and truly ear shattering.
Dave shreds harder and faster than ever before, making this the band’s heaviest album to date. Some of the guitar solos are mind-blowing.
Jona brings an equal dose of keyboards, helping balance the aggression with melody and adding several extra layers of ear candy.
Jimmy takes on his role with his usual dominant presence, grooving right alongside Crash as Scandinavia’s tightest rhythm section.
And what can I say about Erik? We already know he’s an alien from a galaxy far far away, where freakish lung capacity and megaphone vocals are commonplace, but here on earth he stands alone as the finest rock vocalist anywhere. And here he screams, wails, harmonizes and produces angelic tones that every other singer should strive for.

It’s simply a stunning performance by Erik and the whole band.

Additional credit must go to the guys for the production and mix. If anything, it is even better than ever, they clearly learned a lot from their time in the studio and this record reflects that. Absolutely flawless.

4 songs have been previewed in full, each one giving a solid indication of the rest of the album. There’s 11 ass-kicking tracks, the only ballad being Nothing To Say – a ballad so good it also kicks your ass. 11 tracks and 11 different vibes. Its very cool. It’s edgy, it’s menacing, it’s anthemic and melodic and it’s fresh.

Of my observations on the album, it is worth noting that the songs all that have influences from the past, but also strike a clear new path forward.
The guys have used some different chorus styles and structures in places and while some of the choruses may not match the anthemic heights of Living On The Run or Point Of No Return, the songs actually deliver the knockout hooks in the verse or post-chorus bridge. It makes for a really interesting learning curve for the album, as the chorus is normally the most obvious point of familiarity when first getting to know any record.

Highlights are almost impossible to spotlight as not matter what song you play last is the one stuck in your head afterwards.
I do have a particular love for the hard edged fast moving Dangerous Ground; the classic Heat sound of Come Clean; the menacing We Are Gods and its brilliant post-chorus hook; the punchy multi-hook Adrenaline (with a nod to Eclipse’s Runaway in the chorus) and Heaven Must Have Won An Angel, which has a strong Brother Firetribe vibe to it. But that said, I now feel mean for not mentioning other songs. They’re all brilliant.

This review is way longer than it needed to be. We’ll cut to the bottom line.
It’s perfect. The easiest 100 I’ve ever given. Take a bow guys.

Few artists have crossed as many boundaries and tested as many limits as Rick Springfield. He’s rarely delivered an album that sounded much like the one before it. Yet you always know just who it is. Rick has taken a true hard left on a few occasions.

And for the most part, his dedicated fan base has followed every step of the way. I say for the most part, because even though I can’t think of a bigger RS fan than myself, there are a couple of albums that sit on my shelf more to satisfy my completist compulsions. And to be honest, they probably sit more because I’m always playing my favourite RS material. So on a gut feeling that this was something ‘he just had to do’, Rick takes one of the bigger detours of his career, diving into a full service blues album. Well…mostly.

Fans will be familiar with Rick’s love of the blues. Several times over the years he has leant in that direction on an individual song or two. There are still very familiar aspects to ‘The Snake King’. One is of course Rick’s warm voice and those lyrics – delving into familiar subjects like spirituality, God, relationships, sex, depression and temptation. 

There is also some familiarity in the music. In fact, there’s a few tunes that could easily have appeared on ‘Rocket Science’ – the fairly breezy country tinged opener Land Of The Blind; plus the cool relaxed Blues For The Disillusioned and the 10 minute long Orpheus In The Underworld, which is quite possibly the most lyrics ever written for any song…ever! 

In-between those are some truly impressive examples of some genuine delta blues riffing, complete with harmonica, brass and some guitar playing that really impresses - both fast rocking and slower traditional blues rhythms. Most impressive here, besides the trio of more recognisable Rick songs are the title track; the heavier rock of Little Demon – which converts to a slow guitar solo of pure class; the lyrically dark, rollicking double time blues of Suicide Manifesto and the quite commercial Voodoo House.

And a special mention for the intense title track The Snake King, with its amazing slide guitar. There’s more than enough here for most dedicated fans to appreciate.  For others it might be a case of heading to iTunes and picking and choosing personal favourites, one advantage of this digital age.

The Snake King is a mood album. For me it may not played at the lengths previous albums have been, but I do know that when the mood does arise, I will enjoy this without question. It’s too good not to. Bottom line – The Snake King is all class as usual, as expected.

Treat really are on a blinder since reforming and this, their third studio album since then, is a testament to the ability of the band to keep delivering each time, yet do so in a fresh manner each time. 

Tunguska is the perfect companion piece to the timeless classic Coup De Grace and the album between, the more modern sounding Ghost Of Graceland.Tunguska has elements of both – the modern forward momentum of Ghost and the classic anthems of Coup. 

In all honesty – if you’re a fan of Scani melodic rock, all three are as essential. Period! So we have another high energy album here featuring 12 amazing compositions – all layered in vocal harmonies - 10 mid-up tempo tunes and a couple of monster ballads. Tomorrow Never Comes and the impossibly good Build The Love are genre defying classics. 

The diversity among the tracks might give some fans reason to rate this downwind of the last 2 albums, but I embrace this evolution in Treat’s history. Best Of Enemies, Creeps and Man Overboard are probably the most challenging songs to dissect, but for me they still kill and add texture between the anthems of Always Have, Always Will; Progenitors and Rose Of Jericho. It doesn’t stop there though, Riptide, All Bets Are Off and Undefeated give the last half more energy than the first. 

The only caveat I will impose is the sequencing. I would not have chosen the running order of the songs as has been done here. I think there are a couple of options to make it even smoother. Highly digestible Scandi melodic goodness right here. The band can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned, and this makes 3 from 3 in the classic album stakes.

The choruses are huge, the hooks even bigger and the sound is baby bum-cheek fresh. The harmonies really are something! I just love these guys. Get it!

There is a sense of comfort when diving into a new NEWMAN album. Much like Ten, Vega (to name just two), you know exactly what you are going to get, and Steve Newman never disappoints.

With a history dating back to his debut in 1997 that stretches over 2 decades and 15 releases, you are always going to have albums that fans rate more highly than others and differing opinions of just which those albums are. But one thing you cannot deny is that NEWMAN delivers something great on every record. And of course, ‘Ignition’ is no exception.

There a few twists in the tail, the electro-Def Leppard-groove of the title track is certainly one, but mostly this is just classic Newman.

 Another collection of strong, classic melodic rock. 

Toby Hitchcock is one of the voices of the last decade or so. Since his Pride Of Lions debut, his powerful tenor has been front and centre for some of the genre’s best anthems and most epic ballads. Any Toby Hitchcock is good Toby Hitchcock. And for the most part, this album is no different. Songs are delivered by the who’s who of the AOR scene, with at least another 4-5 classic songs here – Queen Untouchable, Promise Me, No Surrender and This Is Our World. Man, the guy can sing. 

I like that a lot of the album is uptempo and flows at a pretty hectic pace. I don’t think this is as strong as Toby’s Erik Martensson-helmed debut. Even though this album is also a Swedish production, the differences are quite stark. Reckoning sounds firmly planted in the 80s, with the keyboards and production style a more distinct European in flavour.

The songs are enjoyable but not to the same level as the debut or Pride Of Lions. There is one issue that desperately needs to be addressed. The keyboards. We need to talk about the keyboards. As has been the case with all Daniel Flores productions, the keyboards dominate. They are the highest element in the mix, aside from vocals and there are just way too many layers of them. There is no letup in the sonic bombardment. There needs to be more space for the rest of the instrumentation to breathe. Even during guitar solos the keyboards still dominate.

I like Daniel a lot – very talented and sweet guy – but there must be an intervention. The keyboards are simply overbearing, and the production style is becoming very repetitive. Find Me (all 3), the second First Signal album, the Palace debut, Cry Of Dawn and now Toby Hitchcock – largely all sound the same.

So moving forward I hope some individual personality can be infused into these projects. And that's the main essence of what's missing here - its own personality. That said, there’s still plenty to enjoy and Toby’s vocals are powerful, emotional and totally immersive. Fans of Find Me, Daniel’s other AOR work and 80s keyboard melodic rock will enjoy.

Much hype for this debut album from this Los Angeles based melodic rock band, touted as a modern equivalent to the Big 3 (Foreigner, Styx and Journey).

And despite the obvious shortcomings in the album’s production quality, the opening anthem ‘Until The Dawn’ certainly gets your attention. Unfortunately, that’s clearly the album’s best track.

The guys have talent and the singer has a sure set of lungs on him, but when the album is dominated by ballads (a couple of very good ones) and the rockers fall short, the song consistency comes to light and the production issue becomes something that can’t be ignored.

I compare this more to Two Fires – a band with huge potential and great performers – who couldn’t get all elements to come together for that killer album.

Once you get past the absolutely horrendous “drum” sound and the somewhat muddy mix, the new House Of Lords (or on this occasion, House Of Spiro), offers some of the band’s best tunes in several years. A production budget would have raised the quality of this record to sit alongside some of my favourite HOL records.

I love the return to a more interesting musical landscape, a touch progressive even, much like parts of Sahara and Demon’s Down. The overall energy is similar to Demon’s Down too. But this is a different band again. As suggested earlier, the biggest influence and difference here is the genius of Mark Spiro. He has co-written most of the album, with his influence so strong there are at least 3, maybe 4 songs that are more Spiro than HOL. He is simply all over this record and his vocals can be heard on most tracks. In fact, he could feel unjustly denied a duet credits on We’re All That We Got and Better Off Broken. His influence over Change (What's it Gonna Take) delivers one of my favourite House Of Lords songs in years, The Both Of Us also impresses. The guys lose the plot a little towards the end, $5 Bucks Of Gasoline is about as catchy as it sounds and The Chase goes nowhere. 

Overall, despite that drum sound and the overall missing production elements, this is a very enjoyable record and their best in a few years. Spiro and James Christian have delivered some great songs for the most part and most of the record runs very smoothly.

You’d have to be almost dead not to get caught up in the infectious fun that is Tokyo Motor Fist. The name might conjure up thoughts of an ancient form of Japanese bondage, but at least they didn’t name themselves Trixter Danger.

Yes, the most talented Steve Brown (Trixter, Guitar) and the always flamboyant Ted Poley (Danger Danger, vocals) team with the rhythm section of Greg Smith (Ted Nugent, Rainbow, Alice Cooper) and Chuck Burgi (Rainbow, Blue Oyster Cult, Joe Lynn Turner) for what amounts to a meeting of the New Jersey chapter of the Melodic Rock Mafia, to create an infectious slice of classic 80s melodic rock that you just have to rock along with. While the album may not have the polish of a major 80s budget, it does pass the crankability test and shines when at maximum volume.

Following his great recent solo album, Ted Poley again delivers a powerhouse vocal while Steve Brown provides the backbone of the sound, his soulful guitar playing filling the air between hooks and choruses. The album is also a tribute to his songwriting prowess.For the most part this delivers exactly what you’d expect – a mix of modern day Trixter’s smart melodic rock and Danger Danger’s hands in the air party anthems. Look no further than the opening salvo of Pickin' Up The Pieces, Love Me Insane, Gimme Your Good Lovin Shameless and Black And Blue to deliver plus the moody feel good ballads Love, Get You Off My Mind and Don’t Let Me Go work to balance the record and provide breathing space between the rockers.

You're My Revolution brings out the double kick drums for a rousing tempo boost, but its Put Me To Shame and Done To Me where Steve Brown’s connection to Def Leppard seems to get dialled up. For a minute I thought I was listening to Sweden’s Leppard loving Grand Design.

How could fans of the two principle artists not be happy with this? It delivers exactly what you might have been hoping for, perhaps exceeding expectations with the strong hooks and great performances.No complaints here and given the positive fan reaction so far, one would have to think that this will develop further just as the ‘other’ D2 side project The Definants has.

Is it too soon to call Brother Firetribe legends of the Finnish AOR scene? Perhaps with this album, it is time. Their 5th studio album might just be their most accomplished yet. It certainly has the slickest production, the smoothest sound and the band’s most commercial modern rock approach to date.

The beauty of this album is perhaps the band’s ability to keep things reigned in a touch more than usual, without losing their edge. Past albums have seen them go all in with over the top anthems, but this album feels a little more restrained, a little more calculated towards the end goal – to deliver a world class modern melodic rock album that will help drive them into a bigger audience.

Naturally arming yourself with 10 killer songs is the way to achieve this feat and BFT do just that. From the subtle, but urgent opener I Salute You, to the sultry moodiness of Night Drive and the tempo altering intensity of Life Is A Beautiful Lie to the most obvious 80s anthem Rock In The City which closes the album.

The masterful production comes courtesy of Jimmy Westerlund, the who brought the same updated intensity to the latest One Desire album. If all these points appeal and you love an equal dose of guitars and keyboards with sultry strong vocals, then Feel The Burn is a must have record.

Pride Of Lions delivers album number six and probably their strongest since 2007’s The Roaring Of Dreams.

Jim Peterik and the brilliant vocals of Toby Hitchcock make a perfect team, with Jim’s more recent songwriting featuring a more theatrical lean and Toby giving those songs instant flair, but also steering the choruses back into AOR territory.

The album sounds a million bucks – the regular production team, including deskman Larry Millas, at Jim’s home studio have this down to a fine art. All we need is the songs.

Jim Peterik isn’t short in inspiration – I’ve never seen any man write as many ideas down as constantly as Jim does. Lion Heart picks the best 12 and follows a similar path to that of previous Pride Of Lions albums.

Lion Heart is the powerful opening number; Heart Of The Warrior is the feel good 80s soundtrack tune; Carry Me Back the sentimental AOR hook and Waiting For A Girl Like You Sleeping With A Memory is the moody 80s ballad.

Elsewhere Good Thing Gone, Give It Away and You’re Not A Prisoner mirror the best the band has offered while Now & Unfinished Heart bring the tears.

A terrific and highly recommended album.

I do note that Jim Peterik takes lead vocal on the first verse of every song, raising his vocal profile on this release above that of any before it. It does change the dynamic a little. His vocals are among the best I’ve heard from him, but Pride Of Lions has in my mind always been Jim’s songs and sound and Toby’s voice. Its not quite as cut and dry on this album. Minor point.

Australian teen sensation Orianthi started off as Avril Lavigne styled pop-metal singer/songwriter and quickly moved on to a more mature blues-based angst, but considering her career trajectory, she’s probably not where she should have been or wanted to be.

He debut indie EP was way back in 1999 and her major label debut was in 2009. 11 years on from that we’ve had just one other album (in 2012) and the collaboration with then partner Richie Sambora which yielded just one album which failed to get the attention it deserved.

So now she’s back and signed to Frontiers, not for a return to the AOR leanings of her youth, but rather a mature, experimental modern rock opus filled with vocal effects, a heavy emphasis on programming and a sound not often embraced by the purist Frontiers audience.

The aggressive modern rocker Rescue Me is decent; the acoustic ballad Crawling Out Of The Dark is an emotional highlight and the new single Impulsive is a catchier affair – but the video clip does it no favors.

Blow does just that; Sinner’s Hymn is a distorted modern mess and overall the album is just a little too tuned down and left of centre, not to mention seldomly moving outside a mid-tempo pace.

Not sure who this is going to appeal to besides established die-hard Orianthi fans, but at 917,000 FB followers, she'll likely sell to those, more than many other artists on the label. It’s not of the style that will see any crossover or mainstream success, but this review should generate enough hate mail for the time being.

Dennis De Young and Jim Peterik. One of the most brazenly honest and funny guys, who just happens to have a golden voice, together with one of the most earnest and likeable guys on this planet, who also happens to be one of rock’s greatest songwriters.

Together with the Peterik production infrastructure, the quality of this release was never in doubt right?

The only downside is there are only 9 full length songs here, with a decision made to split the productive writing and recording sessions into 2 albums. I hope the second volume maintains the high standard set here.

9 songs mean there isn’t a minute to waste. DDY brings the best of his soaring pomp Styx-like magic and JP brings his matching theatrical flair and AOR heart, ensuring that the duo achieve their aim.

There are rockers, there’s pomp, there’s a couple of spectacular ballads. Everything I was hoping of this union is right here. Proof that partnerships can’t be forced, they have to happen naturally.