Black Star Riders have a pretty solid back catalogue almost bordering on Metal so when I heard their single "When The Night Comes In" and saw the album was called Heavy Fire, I immediately expected something excellent for true fans of Hard Rock. In the end, I got something that's good and would recommend this to fans of both classic and contemporary Hard Rock.
There we go, review's done. Onto the next blog post!
Ah fuck it, I've got time to kill. Let's look at this in a bit more detail.
Heavy Fire is a good album, it's not exceptional or an "instant classic" but it has a fair balance between strong material and average Rock. Kicking off with album opener and title track "Heavy Fire" is a good way to go, as this song bursts in with sweet Heavy Metal riffs and a driving rhythm. Unfortunately, the band decided to get cute about one and a half minutes into the track and shoehorn a fairly mediocre melody in that they likely couldn't flesh out into a full song but at the same time didn't want to scrap. In a way, this acts as the best possible album opener and title track as it perfectly combines the positives and negatives of the entire album into a single four and a half minute package.
This might just be my opinion but proper Rock bands like Black Star Riders are at their best when they fucking rock. Naturally some bands often from the Alternative Rock genre are better suited for softer songs and a few Hair Metal artists are capable of nailing the Power Ballad but Black Star Riders aren't either of those genres; they're Rock. Hard Rock, to be precise. Their strengths lie in powerful riffs, crashing cymbals, vocals you want to belt out at the top of your lungs yourself and a tight song length between three and four minutes, four and a half at a push. Those tracks are easily the highlights of this album ("When The Night Comes In", "Who Rides The Tiger", "Letting Go Of Me").
However, I appreciate that the entire album can't be pumped full of energy and you need moments of down time to further emphasise the bigger tracks the band have more confidence in. This is all well and good if those filler tracks are well written and special in their own way; maybe if the tempo's slower, you can still give it an epic riff and a backbone (see "Fight From The Inside" - Queen) or if everything's sounding a little formulaic, you take the elements you're adept at and amplify them (see "The Duellists" - Iron Maiden). Instead, Black Star Riders just plod along and produce decent but easily forgettable and, arguably worse, "safe" Rock songs ("Testify Or Say Goodbye", "True Blue Kid").
There are some examples of songs that were almost awesome but fell at the last hurdle. "Thinking About You Could Get Me Killed" has a nice rumbling bassline but the chorus lacks the passion needed to carry the song through to greatness; in fact, it reminded me a lot of "I Was Wrong" - Social Distortion both vocally and musically. There's also "Ticket To Rise", a Bluesy song built around a serviceable riff but ultimately let down by a string of much better tracks preceding it on the album. The final insult is the album's closing track, "Fade". Gee, I wonder how this one's going to end!
Aside from having an intro way too close to "Something In The Air" - Thunderclap Newman (one of the worst Rock/Wood songs in existence), this is not how you end a Hard Rock album let alone one called Heavy Fire. This track would've been alright if it came earlier on in the album, as it's not a bad vehicle for demonstrating the band's musical maturity, but the last track on the album needed to pack a punch. Even if this had a tempo increase and faded out on faster rhythm after the band had rocked out one last time, I would've finished this album in a better mood. Instead, they fade out on a frenzied solo and leave me with shit in my ears.
If you're somewhat of a Black Star Riders fan and are hoping this album still sounds like them, you won't be disappointed. It does seem a little heavier than tracks I've been overexposed to on the radio but their music still treads the thin line between Hard Rock and Soft Metal, making it easily accessible to a variety of tastes on the Rock spectrum. I feel like I've said this before with other bands like Airbourne but whilst they haven't reached the need to innovate and *shudders* "experiment" with their sound yet, I would've rather they turned it up a notch, especially with the album title and cover alluding to a heavier collection of music. Unlike Breakin' Outta Hell however, I'm relatively happy with what I got here.
Heavy Fire is more or less solid from start to finish and whilst it could've done with one or two more powerful tracks instead of tunes like "Cold War Love", I would still recommend this album to listen to but not purchase for yourself. This is an album you'd give as a gift to someone who loves Rock or might treat yourself to once it drops in price a bit but this isn't something I'd rush out to the shops to buy. Instead, you're better off buying a few tracks off iTunes to show your support.
I rate the album 7/10 only because I'm rounding up from 6.5 and despite my criticisms, there aren't many glaring faults. The songs are suitably written if not a little generic at times and the ones that grab you by the short and curlies really do leave a good impression, despite the fact that they just metaphorically gripped a fistful of your pubes. I'm inclined to give previous Black Star Riders albums a listen after this, as they clearly know how to write great material outside of their singles and even if their previous hits are half as good as the best songs on this album, I'm still in for a hell of a ride.
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