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Artist: Heartlyne |
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Founded in 1986 Heartlyne
became one of Germany’s best-kept secrets. The band were formed
by Tommy Heart and Chris Lyne along with Claus Johannsohn, Jogy
Rautenberg, KK and Alexander Strauch.
Heartlyne were one of Berlin’s underground bands of the era and although their music was never released, the band still caused a mighty stir in the own country. Over the last couple of years this mighty stir re-surfaced to the point that late last year the six original members decided to get together and open up the archives. And what got released from those archives is this Melodic monster of an album! Fans of Fair Warning and Soul Doctor know what a great voice Heart has and now they are being given the opportunity to hear his wondrous tones from their infancy on the real gem of an album. This album is so good it could easily have been written yesterday, such is the quality of the musicianship and song writing throughout it. The album opens up with ‘Starlight’ and instantly Heart’s vocal touch is near perfection, along with the majestic guitars from Lyne adding to the sheer quality of this album. I still cant believe this album never got released way back when! Things continue along the same splendid Melodic Rock path with the fantastic title track ‘No Retreat No Surrender’. This one is sheer class and one for all lovers of great melodic hard rock. The band did have a more gentle side and showed it with the power ballad ‘Victims Of Your Love’, which amazingly sounds uncannily like the Scorpions were doing in the early nineties. ‘Broken Promises’ again picks up with that more familiar Hard Rock sound of the era, with a mighty keyboard sound taking over from the guitars on this song. ‘Strike An Arrow’ is a more mellower sounding ballad but with powerful chorus sections, again highlighting Heart’s great vocals before the pace is picked up again with ‘Change (All Over The World)’. Which is probably the only song on the album that is more 80’s than the rest of the album, which is solid. The album continues with the majestic ‘Sacred Heart’, a song that may start off slowly but soon builds into a great up tempo rocker. The rock just keeps on coming with the excellent ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Empty Eyes’ before the harmonious keyboard enthused ‘Don’t Walk Away’. The album closes with another version of the opening track ‘Starlight’, which rounds off an album that may be some twenty years late, but well worth the wait, and one that I’m sure will be snapped up by the Fair Warning and Soul Doctor fans for sure. For anyone who is not already familiar with Tommy H and Chris L, then take this as a baptism of fire and you’ll be soon checking out Soul Doctor and Fair Warning album for sure.
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| Tracklisting:
1. Starlight |
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