| Jaded Heart Perfect Insanity | Frontiers Records FRCD430 |
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On their third studio album with new singer Johan Fahlberg, Jaded Heart has once and for all ditched the sound that made them popular to start with. Gone is the melodic rock/melodic hard rock sound of the Bormann era. They have gradually stepped into a heavier arena and with Perfect Insanity the transformation is complete. Jaded Heart is now a melodic metal outfit, competing with the likes of Edguy and Yngwie Malmsteen. There is a surprising amount of shredding on this record (in a good way), but also not enough emphasis on killer hooks for the choruses. The unfortunate thing here is that no matter how good this album might have been, it will still divide the fan base as some of the melodic rockers will simply not want to hear a metal outfit. The album needed to be an absolute classic to bring in new fans and I don't think it is convincing enough to do that. Perfect Insanity is a monster sounding record – the production really is quite special. And the guitars are world class, ear damaging quality. And Johan's vocals do suit this new direction. There is a lot to appreciate on this record. But at the end of the day, the band fall short (once again) on the songwriting. The first half of the record kicks ass, but then it kinda runs out of steam. That's if you are still listening due to the style change. Love is a Killer is a terrific big heavy anthem with the necessary harmony in the chorus to make it a winner. Fly Away is about 2 minutes too long, but still remains a solid metal track. Blood Stained Lies is another good double-time rocker with decent chorus and some harmony vocals. Tonight is the band doing it slower, while retaining the heaviness. It works ok. Freedom Call is a classic Yngwie shred fest, which those fans will love. One Life One Death is the big ballad of the album, but I just don't feel the sentiment coming from the band here. The last couple of tracks struggled with melody and hooks and from this point it just gets harder to keep the attention on the songs - Hell Just Arrived being the exception.
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09/12/09: Sava - svemirski_modulator@yahoo.com
02/12/09: Frank - frankj@rogers.com
Rating: 98
The best Jaded Heart release so far! Yes, it's much more melodic metal but they didn't lose their writing skills at all!
Fucking great!
Rating: 45
I use to love Jaded Heart. But this cd sucks. The only thing I can say is please Jaded Heart go back to your old style of music.
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