Picture the scene; H.E.A.T walk into a metal bar and the liggers stop to guffaw at their Topman tank tops and girly faces. By last orders the Swedes have stolen your girlfriend and have you hooked on Europe’s greatest hits.
Say what you want about 80s hair metal (although you should draw the line at bollock-baring Spandex) but catchy-as-fuck tunes that force your fists to punch the air like you’re doing the YMCA on crack have a place, even in today’s extreme and forward-thinking climate.
Tearing Down The Walls is an album of hit after hit with every song sounding a bit like something you’ve heard before but can’t put your finger on it. The title track is pure Bon Jovi while other cuts hark back to Scorpions, Def Leppard et al. It’s more than AOR; these are energy-fuelled, power-driven songs that beg for pyrotechnics made effortlessly clear in the explosive Point Of No Return and the über-anthem A Shot At Redemption.
Of course, being Swedish, H.E.A.T have the song-writing gene inherent but they also play with glam and grit in equal measure.