JADED HEART - review added 7th October 2009
Album Review: Perfect Insanity (2009)
For fans of: Power Metal... and flaming skulls
Perfect Insanity is the 3rd Jaded Heart studio album to feature Johan Fahlberg on vocals, and their 8th overall. His first with the band, Helluva Time was brilliant. The second, Sinister Mind, not so good. This one sounds, from initial descriptions, like it's going to split the difference.
Unlike Sinister Mind, Perfect Insanity sees Jaded Heart going down the ballad route again. The previous album didn't have any and, one of the reasons it suffered was the lack of changes in pace throughout. The band seem to have totally given up on doing their epic metal covers these days, and that's a crying shame, but we'll forgive them that small indiscretion if the rest of the album delivers the goods.
The sound, courtesy of Pink Cream 69's Dennis Ward, is rich, creamy and a big improvement on S.M.. This is a much more accessible, made for the masses album and loses most of the dark atmosphere they employed last time. Alongside Johan and Dennis are Pete Ostros (guitars), Axel Kruse (drums), Henning Wanner (keyboards) and Michael Mueller (bass). The physical performances are as good as ever, although the guys don't play exactly the same music they used to. It's still Jaded Heart, but it's Jaded Heart mk.2. For those trapped in the Michael Bormann bubble this'll be an obvious disappointment.
'Love Is A Killer' kicks proceedings off in boisterous style. Even though the chorus is unexceptional, the song as a whole is as good as anything from the previous release. 'Fly Away' has an urgent feel mixed with a mellower side. It doesn't really go anywhere, but retains an air of understated excellence. 'Blood Stained Lies' has a classic sound and gets a miniscule amount better every time you hear it. Eventually it'll sound awesome...but it'll take time. The song's solo section, with its potent bassline, is especially good.
'Tonight' is a big power-laden track that hints at 'ballad' in the chorus and straight ahead metal in the verses. The song heads down a few interesting avenues and works well. 'Freedom Call' isn't particularly special, although it sounds uncannily like old Yngwie Malmsteen in places. The joyous sounding 'One Life One Death' is a slow number that's good but possibly not special enough. It gets better as it meanders through but certainly isn't up there with the Jaded Heart greats. Shame.
'Rising' lifts the game to fast-paced levels again. 'Hell Just Arrived' is cool too, if one dimensional. 'Psycho Kiss' is nondescript, 'Come To The Feast' isn't much better, and final track 'Exterminated' - although a touch better - still doesn't have a lot of oomph behind it.
I'm still not convinced by Jaded Heart's recent work. This is much better than Sinister Mind, but a high percentage of it is still underwhelmingly average. I get the impression that, with another 50 listens, Perfect Insanity could come good and be a real favourite...but who's going to wait that long for an album to show its true colours? We know this band can produce stunning music, and the excuse of not having Michael Bormann is irrelevant because Helluva Time was awesome. Perfect Insanity has its moments, but it doesn't have anywhere near enough of them.
Check out... 'Blood Stained Lies', or possibly Helluva Time...
Track List:
01. Intro
02. Love Is A Killer
03. Fly Away
04. Blood Stained Lies
05. Tonight
06. Freedom Call
07. One Life One Death
08. Rising
09. Hell Just Arrived
10. Psycho Kiss
11. Come To The Feast
12. Exterminated
Label: Frontiers Records
Artist's website(s): Jaded Heart , MySpace
