Jaded Heart - Perfect Insanity
Perfect Insanity is the 9th album and the third with vocalist Johan Fahlberg of the german melodic metal institution Jaded Heart. The 2007 album Sinister Mind was a real masterpiece of the band, so can Jaded Heart keep this quality or even improve it?
After a short Intro the opening track „Love is a killer“ shows that the band wants to continue their way in more guitar orientated songs, harder songs in a way they began with their last album. Well..a nice start and Jaded Heart don't forget their trademark, the melodic refrains. So does „Fly away“, the next song. Good guitar hookline in the beginning before it changes in a more elegian guitar part. When the vocals set in the song continues in midtempo again with a strong refrain. This 6 minute track is the first highlight of the album. By the way...the album got a clear production which brings enough power behind the instruments, means that the drums are not mixed too far in the background. This element allows the band to be more metal than hardrock, melodic but a powerful wall of sound. „Blood stained lies“ start with a key / guitar duel. Fast forward song with partly real high vocals. I would say this will be an awesome live song. Straight and everyone can sing it. Including a great, fast played guitar solo of Peter Östros in the middle and a shorter one at the end. The following is a melodic hymn. „Tonight“ is a guitar song. Ladies orientated in the refrain but with strong leads and hooklines that makes the song not cheesy, more a smasher. More speed comes up in „Freedom Call“. Fahlberg and the band are near here to swedish bands like Tad Morose or Morgana Lefay. Again with a furious Östros solo. For me the best song of the whole album. Critics for that song....with 3 ½ minutes it is definetely too short !! After that“One life one death“ can only lose. And so it is. More a filler track than to keep the high quality up. Not bad, the trademarks are present, but not more. „Rising“ has a little HIM touch at the beginning but with harder guitars. But this moves when the vocals set in. Midtempo rules, lots of backing vocals in that song. Interrupted by a short guitar solo the track is obviously a 4 minute refrain. Straight, no breaks, very straight. The following two songs „Hell just arrived“ and“Psycho Kiss“ are more in the tradition of older Jaded Heart albums. I miss for myself my personal Wow !! -effect. Good quality anyway. Back to heaviness with „Come to the feast“. I even can hear some Saxon vibes in that song. Guitars do the talking and we can listen to the best vocal performance of Johan Fahlberg on this album. This song proves that the move from melodic hard rock to melodic metal was not the worst decision of Jaded Heart. The band can really play that kind of music excellent. New facettes the band puts in the last song „Exterminated“. Is that a synth guitar playing? Anyway...another faster played smasher with melodic refrain. Listen to the weird part in the middle. Great stuff, great band.
For me the band has grown up. I would like to hear the band in this harder, more guitar orientated way in the future. Cause the best songs of that album are the songs that the band play in this style. Ok. This album has 2 or 3 fillers (in their old traditional sound) so everyone has to decide for himself if this album is better as Siniser Mind or not. Guys, keep going that way and bring me an album next with power complete. Jaded Heart has to be Metal !!
Points: 7/10
review by Kerb
|
