Recent Reviews

November 2024

October 2024

September 2024

August 2024

[ More Music Reviews ]


Heywire: Heywire
Heywire 2015 Self-titled Debut CD Album Review

Heywire: Heywire

(Melodic) Hard/Heavy Rock
3.0/5.0

Facebook
Massacre Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 16.01.2015

Like many bands, Denmark's Heywire had to go through some tribulations to get where they are today. Mostly, for them, it was ongoing personnel changes, not the least of which was burning through six lead vocalists. On the other side of the trials, hard work, and perseverance can come success. The band introduces their self-titled debut, Heywire on Massacre Records.

Heywire Band Photo

Heywire

To characterize Heywire's approach and sound as old school is not an exaggeration. They seem misplaced in time, possibly best heard in the mid-Seventies alongside the likes of Deep Purple and others. Their music is a heavy/hard rock like the early proto-metal of another, older, era. Nearly every element, guitar, bass, and drums, comes across hard-hitting and heavy, forceful. It's as if, with each song, Heywire is playing for the last time. Then there's the keyboards that do everything from mimic an old school Hammond to subtle symphonic moments to flourishes of solos, both elaborate and quirky. The synths form a large part of Heywire's sound, giving the guitar leads, also traditional, a deliberate run for the money.

Early on, much of this Heywire heavy-handedness comes across as merely, well, heavy, and then plodding. Never Blink Again and Under The Sun seemed to take forever to get through. These are followed by a lazy, yet thick, ballad Lean On Me. Eventually, you get some momentum, some gusto, with Running and Could Have Told Me that lifts the album into some liveliness. Yet, the album ends with more of that cumbersome plodding ritual that seems inherently characteristic to the band. Love, Soul Is Gone, and Scary require patient of Job once more. The odd thing, however, is that most every song has some eloquent stand out moments. One is the symphonic character within The Lost; another are the fine solos that rise at the end of Soul Is Gone or Scary, for example; another is the spirited keyboard solo in the latter half of Lean On Me. In this sense, the parts do make the whole. I'm simply not sure the 'whole' album, the entirety of songs, really gripped me all that much. Alternatively, if you have some interest in classic heavy rock, the old school being the new school, you might find Heywire's musical approach and debut of interest to you.

Heywire - Lean On Me


CraigHartranft.net - New fiction, crime fiction by Craig Hartranft

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

In Short

If you have some interest in classic heavy rock, the old, old school being the new school, you might find Heywire's musical approach and debut of interest to you.

Find A Review

Alphabetical Index

a b c d e f g h i j
k l m n o p q r s t
u v w x y z #
New & Notable
Read the Lionville: Supernatural Album Review

eviewing my archives, I was pleased to find that I have had the privilege to review every Lionville since their self-titled debut in 2011. Formed by Stefano Lionetti, a songwriter, singer and guitarist based in ... [ Read More ]