H.E.A.T: ‘Live At Sweden Rock Festival’
H.E.A.T
LIVE AT SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL
Released on July 26, 2019 (earMUSIC)
Review:
It appears that H.E.A.T are taking their cues from Iron Maiden. Release a studio album and follow it up with a live album. Release another studio album and follow it up with another live album. Since the release of Brave New World in 2000, Iron Maiden have released a new live album after each studio record. Yes, technically, Maiden‘s live record Flight 666 (2009) wasn’t exactly a continuation of the studio effort A Matter of Life And Death (2006) but it was nevertheless another live album after a studio record. I eventually stopped buying Iron Maiden‘s live albums but only stopped with the last one The Book of Souls: Live Chapter. The point being that I will be purchasing H.E.A.T‘s various live releases for a while yet before eventually tapping out.
I must say that I much prefer H.E.A.T‘s Live In London released back in 2015 compared to their latest live release Live At Sweden Rock Festival. It’s not that the energy level is not there on the former. You can feel the energy while listening to the songs on Live At Sweden Rock Festival and I always love when the bands play their songs a tad faster live than in the studio. It adds to that excitement and ups the energy levels. Just look at KISS‘ Alive!, which is an amazing live record and where the live renditions completely blow away the studio ones. The real issue with H.E.A.T‘s Live At Sweden Rock Festival is that it’s the tour supporting the rather disappointing studio effort Into The Great Unknown.
There are only 13 songs on Live At Sweden Rock Festival — which is understandable given that the band is playing a rock festival — and four originate from Into The Great Unknown (2017), five from Tearing Down The Walls (2014), two from Address The Nation (2012), one from Freedom Rock (2010) and one from H.E.A.T (2008). In contrast, Live In London, which has 15 songs, has seven emanating from Tearing Down The Walls (2014), six from Address The Nation (2012), one from H.E.A.T (2008) and the single “1000 Miles” (2009). Taking into account that H.E.A.T‘s two best studio albums by far are Address The Nation and Tearing Down The Walls, Live In London is a stellar release since 13 of the 15 songs come from those two albums. Live At Sweden Rock Festival on the other hand covers more ground and includes all five of H.E.A.T‘s studio releases and unfortunately, four songs from Into The Great Unknown. Even worse, arguably the best or second best track from Into The Great Unknown — “Best of The Broken” — is not even on Live At Sweden Rock Festival. How could that be? Even the stellar “Point of No Return” from Tearing Down The Walls is sadly missing from H.E.A.T‘s setlist at the 2018 edition of the Sweden Rock Festival.
If anything, H.E.A.T show on Live At Sweden Rock Festival that they don’t yet have the depth of songs to really deviate too much from their greatest songs in a live setlist. In a way, it’s kind of like Iron Maiden when they started releasing one live album after every studio album. Rock In Rio was awesome became Brave New World was a great studio album. The live album Death On The Road wasn’t quite as good as Rock In Rio since the material on Dance of Death didn’t quite measure up to Brave New World. And obviously, I haven’t listened to Maiden‘s live record En Vivo! since shortly after purchasing it as it leans heavily on material from arguably, one of the band’s worst studio albums — The Final Frontier.
Overall, while Live At Sweden Rock Festival displays H.E.A.T‘s trademark high levels of live energy and singer Erik Grönwall‘s almost hyperactive nature, the material just isn’t as good as on Live In London. I have a couple of other pet peeves. Grönwall‘s lengthy address to the crowd — presumably in the Swedish language — mid-way through the live set is painful to listen to since I can’t understand a thing! In addition, although I thought that I was purchasing a live CD/DVD, I ended up receiving a live CD/Blu-Ray. Since I don’t have a Blu-Ray player, it really feels like I am not taking full advantage of this release as the Blu-Ray includes the live performance as well as eight bonus videos. While I am not unhappy to have purchased Live At Sweden Rock Festival, I suspect that it will be gathering dust for many years to come.
Track List (CD + Blu-Ray):
01. Bastard of Society
02. Late Night Lady
03. Mannequin Show
04. Redefined
05. Heartbreaker
06. Shit City
07. Beg Beg Beg
08. Tearing Down The Walls
09. Eye of The Storm
10. Emergency
11. Inferno
12. Living On The Run
13. A Shot At Redemption
Bonus Videos (Blu-Ray only):
01. It’s All About Tonight
02. Tearing Down The Walls
03. Point of No Return
04. Living On The Run
05. Eye of The Storm
06. A Shot At Redemption
07. Best of The Broken
08. Drink Alone
Band Members:
Erik Grönwall – vocals
Dave Dalone – guitar
Jimmy Jay – bass
Jona Tee – keyboards
Don Crash – drums
Band Websites:
Official Website
Facebook
Reviewed by Olivier for Sleaze Roxx, November 2019
H.E.A.T‘s “Bastard of Society” video (from Live At Sweden Rock Festival):
H.E.A.T “Bastard Of Society” (Live at Sweden Rock Festival) – album out now!
Get “Live At Sweden Rock Festival” here: https://heat.lnk.to/LiveAtSwedenRock _________________ SWEDISH HARD ROCK SENSATION H.E.A.T RELEASE POWERFUL LIVE ALB…