HERO - review added 15th January 2010
Album Review: Fires Of Beltain (2010)
For fans of: Progressive Soft Rock... and good title tracks
Canadian progressive rockers Hero is Sean MacFadyen on vocals and guitars, his brother Corey MacFadyen on drums, and Mike Turenne on bass. Fires Of Beltain, the band's debut album, was written by Sean and produced (and arranged) by Corey. This is definitely a compact project, but it doesn't always sound that way - parts of it are huge.
There's a cool understated excellence in most of the songs, although for me a lot of the album lacks a few cc's of adrenaline. There's a rich vein of talent on display, and there's no doubt these guys can perform, but there are too many times when they hold back and rely on introspective indie-ness. If they'd let rip more often - the thing they seem to be good at - it could have been a belter.
Fires Of Beltain does occasionally hit excitable and vaguely boisterous highs - check out the heavy punk-pop of opening track 'Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey'. 'Sea Islands' is only a few notches behind too. My favourite entry however is, just to be awkward, the brilliantly subdued title track.
Overall this is a decent enough album. If you like mellow rock there's plenty to whet your appetite here. The flashes of genius make it worth a listen, but they aren't enough to stop the album being too subtle for my tastes.
Check out... The title track. Brilliant.
Track List:
01. Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey
02. Lying In The Closet
03. Fires of Beltain
04. Glad
05. Free As A Bird
06. Hangover
07. Paean
08. Who's Sad
09. Bridges Burning
10. Sea Islands
11. Glenn's Crossing
12. New Day
Artist's website(s): Hero , MySpace
