Huge disappointment! There is no need to beat around the bush or dwell into fancy introductions in order to sweeten the final, mediocre (to say the least) result. You see I belong to those who always thought that H.E.A.T. was the best new hard rock band of the past decade. As a matter of fact, every single album of theirs –up to “Address The Nation (objectively) and why not up to “Tearing Down The Walls” (personally, I love it) – was superb and the sky seemed to be the limit for the Swedish outfit. Unfortunately, “Into The Great Unknown” proved to be an unpleasant surprise for all the hard rock fans around the world…
Maybe there were some people who noticed the first traces of a relative stability and lack of inspiration even in “Tearing Down The Walls”. As I said, I like that album and I wasn’t taken aback by its modern approach in the production. As a matter of fact, from a production standpoint, “Into The Great Unknown” bears a lot of similarities with its predecessor. The greatest problem on the new album is the low quality of the compositions themselves. H.E.A.T. leaves you under the impression that the vast majority of the songs were written rather hastily and without any spark of inspiration whatsoever. And the paradox of the whole thing is that the record kicks off with a couple of excellent songs!
“Bastard of Society” is a brilliant starter that wets our appetite and stylistically is somewhere between “Address The Nation” and “Tearing Down…”. The follow up “Redefined” is equally impressive with the pop aesthetic making its introduction on the record. And after that, there is an absolute chaos! I couldn’t believe what I was listening to and I couldn’t really comprehend how a band like H.E.A.T. would even write (let alone release) such bad songs. Songs like “Shit City” and “Do You Want It?” are absolutely embarrassing and could have easily been written by a school band. This is the bitter truth!
I will continue to support H.E.A.T. because I know what this band is capable of. Let’s hope that “Into The Great Unknown” was the exception to the rule. Until the next album…
Highlight: In 2017 the big 3 of the Swedish hard rock scene came up with new releases. The undisputed winner is by far…Eclipse!
