Quite by chance, I listened to the new Steelheart album back to back with the new H.E.A.T. record. After the bitter and unexpected experience with H.E.A.T, and considering the fact that Steelheart’s frontman Mili Matijevic hasn’t come up with something extraordinary in decades, I wasn’t holding my breath for the new Steelheart sonic effort. Unfortunately, I wasn’t proved wrong as “Through Worlds Of Stardust” –in almost its entire duration- is a really bad album with only a couple of good moments here and there. Someone will rightfully ask what did I expect from Matijevic in 2017…well, personally, I’d expected from him to embrace his past and revisit his first two albums. After all, this is the style that made him well-known and this is what people will always anticipate from him. That’s the sole truth.
The disjointed sum of uninspired ballads and dated alternative elements take you back in the late 90s; that could have been actually a good thing if there was a quality from a compositional standpoint. Songs like “Stream Line Savings” and “Come Inside” add absolutely nothing to the band’s legacy and if it wasn’t for the really good songs “You Got Me Twisted” and “Lips of Rain” then we would have nothing less than a indifferent and forgettable album. And you know what? It’s a shame because Matijevic’s voice is still intact and impressive after all these years. I am certain that only those die hard fans of the genre that forgive everything that Matijevic does can only find an excuse to buy this album. But trust me when I am saying: this is a really bad album!
Highlight: We are still trying to forget the tragic Matijevic show in Greece…
