| CD REVIEW Sacred Heart |
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Band : Sacred Heart This British Modern Melodic Hard Rock band originally started life in 1995 as a studio project. After releasing several demo EPs, which garnered the band a local following, the original four called it quits in 1999, but remained good friends. Lead singer/ guitarist Paul Stead and guitarist/ backing singer Mark Stephenson started jamming again in Summer 2003, and decided to rekindle the SH flame, recruiting bassist Leigh Westbrook and drummer Claudio Cafolla to also bring the band live. The band’s first release (Dec. 2003) in that line-up was a 7-track live demo titled A New Dawn (originally a 5-track affair, to which a track was added with the 2nd and the 3rd print runs – the release of the original demo already leading to support gigs with Saxon, The Quireboys, and Kee Marcello), followed up by 10-track studio recording Lay It On The Line in July 2004 (Stead apparently also added keyboard parts where needed). Westbrook was only temporary though, soon to be replaced on a more permanent basis by Darren Jhuboo, and in this line-up the band not only did plenty of gigs at festivals, as support to international major label acts (including Asia, Thunder, Blaze Bayley, Uriah Heep, Dokken, Girlschool, House of Lords, Bonfiree, Kingdom Come…and many more), or as headliners…but eventually also recorded (with one Alex Burke on keyboards and additional bass) the 31 July 2007 released album Shake (issued through their own label Winkelrant). Due to other commitments, Jhuboo left in Summer 2007, to be replaced by one Nathan J. Lark (whom would also contribute in songwriting to come). Then Cafolla took a break from music, and Burke took over his seat (as well as handling the band’s keyboards) for the recordings of Darkness Falls (also, it was at his studio that the album was recorded, incidently). Guests on the 17-track (4 are original 2004 demos added only to the CD and not available on downloads from the usual outlets), near 70-minute album include one Kyrlacos Tsikkini singing additional backing vocals, and one Sinclair Muir playing a solo on the track “Music Man”. Musically, the band takes Melodic Hard Rock, era late ‘80s, and gives it a modern touch which has resulted in comparisons to the (commercial) likes of Hinder and Nickelback. Nice is the fact that both guitarists play lead and rhythm, and alternate their parts frequently…which is real fun to listen to through ear phones. As a singer, Stead has been likened to Joey Tempest (Europe), but personally I feel Stead’s voice is less warm, which bring a monotone touch to his almost constant high pitch. Yet, he’s gót the capacity to give his voice a more intimate turn, as proven by his calmer performance during acoustic (well, the track IS sustained by atmospheric keyboards, and there IS some electric rhythm guitar in the latter part of the song) ballad “No-One knows (War)”. Personally, I feel the album is a tad too long! 10 new songs and the 4 bonus tracks (apparently new recordings of 4 tracks off the Lay It On The Line demo album) would’ve been quite enough for me! To check out whether this is something for you, surf to myspace.com/sacredheartshakes, where the band posted 6 tracks off the new album alongside 3 songs from Shake. Apparently the band is again in the studio at this moment. SH also has a new live line-up, as joining Stead and Stephenson on stage will be drummer Dave Thurlby, and on the bass…look who’s there…it’s Jhuboo again! As for my rating, which is evidently influenced by my feelings Stead’s voice…well, I’ve allways said that the singer is what makes or breaks a band. In the case of SH, Stead doesn’t quite cut it, but I believe quite firmly that with a better production, some warmth may be added to his voice! 79/100 Tony. |