Metal Storm logo
Heed - The Call review



Reviewer:
7.6

36 users:
8.08
Band: Heed
Album: The Call
Release date: October 2005


01. Heed Hades
02. I Am Alive
03. Last Drop Of Blood
04. Ashes
05. Enemy
06. Salvation
07. Tears Of Prodigy
08. The Other Side
09. Hypnosis
10. Moments
11. The Permanent End Celebration
12. Nothing

After that Daniel Heiman and Fredrik Olsson decided to leave Lost Horizon in 2004, they founded Heed a new combo of Power Metal. "The Call" is their first album, a really nice piece of Power Metal that flirts with Heavy and Hard Rock. Really catchy and intelligent this music will probably please the fans of the two musicians.

When I hear something about a new Power Metal combo, I have to admit that I'm always a bit afraid. I mean that nowadays, 99% of the new Power Metal bands play something in the vein of Sonata Arctica and honestly I don't like such music. The fact that Daniel Heiman and Fredrik Olsson were the "heads" of Heed was however a good thing and I was fully confident in their capacity to create something good.

And I was right, we don't have any problem with their first album, a really good and classy album that mix Power, Heavy and even Melodic Hard Rock. The album is varied with powerful and aggressive songs like "I Am Alive" or even ballads like the good "Nothing" and its melody produced by acoustic guitars. This is not really original and surprising ok but well there are some hits on this CD so it's not so bad at the end and be sure that the performance of the musicians is extremely good (especially the voice of Daniel Heiman).

Maybe that this album lacks a bit of identity on a side, but on the other hand I'm happy to see that our guys didn't fall into the pit of "cheesy" Power Metal. This is Power that's right but at least this is not something that forgets to be Metal and Hard Rock if you see what I mean. And plus the production is really good so?

This album is really promising for the future of the band. Daniel Heiman and Fredrik Olsson didn't loose anything of their talent and if you were already a fan of Lost Horizon, I'm sure that you'll be happy to find them again on this new recording. A good first album?


Rating breakdown
Performance: 8
Songwriting: 7
Originality: 7
Production: 9

Written by Jeff | 30.06.2006



Guest review by
Talvi
Rating:
8.0
After Daniel Heiman left Lost Horizon everybody had been wondering if Lost Horizon will still be able to make albums as good, and what will be done of that awesome voice. The second answer is in this album.

This is straight power metal. I can't think of any band that sounds like this but that is because I don't know if there is any power metal band that is so simple! Really, this looks like mainstream power metal. Every song has almost the same speed, same structure, and there aren't any memorable solos, although some are quite good. So why that "high" rating?

Read more ››
published 27.12.2006 | Comments (1)


Comments

Comments: 9   Visited by: 51 users
30.06.2006 - 14:37
Rating: 6
Promonex
Cathemeral
It's a good Power Metal album indeed, but aeons away from Lost Horizon's works. In my opinion Daniel Heiman has forgone most of his singing talent on this album.
----
All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu... This is the truth! This is my belief! ...At least for now.
- The Mystery of Life, Vol. 841 Ch. 26
Loading...
30.06.2006 - 21:41
Eddie
Retired Mod.
Definetly a good release, and well, I say that as a fan of Lost Horizon. Vocalwise its good yeah, but it just doesnt get to the level of LH, its just a bit less. Some tracks aren't as strong as others, but overall it leaves a very good impression. Haven't listened to it for a while, and I actually just played it before I noticed this review haha, it still pleases my ears in a very pleasant way.
Loading...
01.07.2006 - 01:46
PyRaMaZe
Account deleted
People need to remember that Lost Horizon and Heed are different bands. Heed doesn't want to copy Lost Horizon since Lost Horizon is still active and going. I liked this album quite a lot the first time I heard it, so I don't got any dislikes on this album. Heed forums has put up polls like how their new album should sound, stuff like that, so it will be interesting to see what Daniel and co. have to bring to us in the future,
Loading...
01.07.2006 - 03:56
danzig111
Account deleted
they don't really sound like Power Metal that much.......
Loading...
01.07.2006 - 12:28
Eddie
Retired Mod.
@PyRaMaZe, yeah they are 2 different bands, but I still think nonetheless that Daniels vocal performance isn't as good as with Lost Horizon, it has less spirit it seems to me. But its still really good
Loading...
02.07.2006 - 15:09
Fence
Account deleted
vocals are better, as I was a fan of lost horizon also but on this record you can hear much more hooks and less power cliches. You can see the difference because daniel obviously didnt handle vocal parts alone, Wotjek helped him about over those. On this record he has more feel and sound like a grown man; more confident and firm. Later i realised that I was a fan of Heiman and not of L.H. but now look at L.H. theyre stuck sa daniel was the driving force, he was not hte leader nor the biggest dreamer of them but he did bring the good stuff
Loading...
02.07.2006 - 15:43
Rating: 7
Ivan
Retired Admin
The album is good, but somehow it seems less inspired than the Lost Horizon albums, and I got bored of it really quickly. The songwriting here is definitely inferior compared to Lost Horizon, as are vocals.
Loading...
08.08.2006 - 14:54
Rating: 8
Lord Darkness

You should really stop comparing different bands, because that's nonsense. The band isn't supposed to sound like Lost Horizon just because it has two ex-members of the band.

Anyway, I love Daniel Heiman's voice, no matter where he sings. Although I'd stick with Lost Horizon's style over Heed, I think it's a nice band, so it's a nice debut album.
----
I can see what you see not. Vision milky then eyes rot.
When you turn they will be gone, whispering their hidden song.
Then you see what cannot be, shadows move where light should be.
Out of darkness, out of mind, cast down into the Halls of the Blind.
Loading...
10.08.2006 - 22:37
Slottet av Take
Account deleted
Yeah Lost Horizon is my all time favorite band...but I guess Im a bit elaborate about it once in a while so many people know my stance on them lol Thats probably why Im a bit more critical on Heed because I tend to compare them too easily to Lost Horizon eventhough its not really similar at all. Lost Horizon is way more epic and "sword in the hand" while Heed somehow has a heavier and more "groove" sound.

I do think, however, that Heiman doesn utilise his most fantastic voice the way he can and that since we know how well Fredrik Olssen can play guitar its kind of aggrevating seeing him hold back the way he does on this album...

I suppose thats my real gripe with this band.....i know its wrong to compare them with Lost Horizon, but Heiman and Olssen just seemed so much more energetic back then and I accept that its up to them what musical direction they take, but as a fan it sort of feels like a step backwards in quality of music..
Loading...

Hits total: 7336 | This month: 20