Back to back AOR reviews? What has become of our dear “Metal” Joe?! Fear not, my fellow maniacs. Tomorrow’s Top 10 will be an extra heavy one, just for you, and Thursday’s content will be of equal metallic potency (you’ll just have to wait for that). Until then, if you could please allow me to indulge in my safe haven of soaring vocals, tubular riffage, and an even balance of rockers n’ ballads, that’d be much appreciated, thanks. Now that those formalities are out of the way, let’s dive in, shall we? You know, here at Defenders of the Faith, I pride myself on highlighting a bit of the old and a bit of the new. Considering Alien falls into the former, if it wasn’t Heart Line to fall into the latter, it would have to be someone else.
According to a quick Google search, Heart Line are a French (Oui!) AOR act formed in 2020 (how about that, a pandemic era band!) as a studio project by one Mr. Yvan Guillevic. Said “project” quickly evolved into a full blown band, and have been releasing music regularly ever since. How regularly? Well, their latest album, Falling Heaven, is their third in five years, which is rather impressive in an age where bands will go five years in between releasing singles, let alone albums (looking at you, King Diamond). And if their past output is anything like this latest affair, well, I’ve got quite the tasty back catalog to investigate.
On the AOR spectrum, Heart Line definitely falls on the hard rock side of things. Some of the more energetic cuts even cross the threshold into melodic metal territory, like “Fire in the Sky” and “We Rule the Night”, which reek of Pretty Maids worship in the best way imaginable. For the most part, however, Heart Line keep it straightforward with riff-centric rockers like “God Has a Plan”, “Liar”, and “Wake Up”, which channel the arena-friendly romps of acts like Whitesnake and Victory. Guiding it all are some seriously intoxicating melodies, a crisp retro production, and the Tony Harnell meets Mark Slaughter vocals of Emmanuel Creis.
Being that this is an AOR album, there’s also no shortage of poppy moments and, of course, ballads. As for the poppy tunes, at best they sound like Bill Conti-penned soundtrack bangers (“Every Time You Smile”, “Broken Heart”) and at worst, cheesy inoffensive fare (“Silent Dreamers”). This same middle of the road assessment can be made for the ballads, the strongest of the bunch being the atmospheric “I Don’t Want to Live Without You” (not to be confused with the Foreigner ballad of the same name). Speaking of Foreigner, Mick Jones and Lou Gramm would be proud of the dramatized pomp that is “You Crossed the Line”, which for all purposes could be a distant cousin of the band’s classic “Break It Up”.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find Falling Heaven guilty of filling the CD (Did we really need that sap-fest “Love Song”?), but not to the point where it throws Heart Line’s vision off track. These frenchies set out to make an honest to goodness ’80s AOR album, and they succeeded. Job well done, Heart Line! We hope to see you keep on beating that melodic rock drum for many years to come, although next time around, maybe keep it to 40 minutes instead of 50.
7 out of 10
Label: Pride & Joy Music
Genre: AOR
For fans of: TNT, H.E.A.T, Victory
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