{"id":24319,"date":"2015-01-23T00:00:37","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T00:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=24319"},"modified":"2015-02-25T15:09:30","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T15:09:30","slug":"album-review-heywire-heywire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-heywire-heywire\/","title":{"rendered":"HEYWIRE – HeyWire (2015) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

HEYWIRE
HeyWire<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nMassacre (2015)<\/span>
Rating: 4.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Formed in 2005, Danish band HeyWire has been through six lead vocalists over its career, but finally settled on the talents of a chap named Anders Mandrup (who also plays bass) who joins founding members Jay Jayson (guitar) and Taz Plummer (drums), alongside J\u00f8rgen Hansen (keyboards). <\/p>\n

HeyWire\u2019s self-titled debut offering consist of ten tracks which are very much daubed in that distinctly European flavour in that there\u2019s a nice metallic gallop throughout, but the opus is tinged strongly with progressive and almost cosmic touches.<\/p>\n

This is melodic metal played well and attempting to showcase originality by way of some unusual musical structures, never allowing for a hint of predictability. However, this isn\u2019t always good. The reason I say this is because HeyWire\u2019s rather tepid and awkward sound doesn\u2019t always sit well with me; the whole affair comes across as rather lukewarm, lightweight and understated in spite of its tendency to infuse some unfamiliar keyboard segments with that tame melodic metal trudge.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve played this record several times and I like some of the anthemic choruses \u2013 namely on opener \u2018Never Blink Again\u2019 \u2013 but I have no real clue as to which beast it wants to be. While I enjoy the symphonic flair, this seems to take precedence over the guitar which ambles along with a hard rock quality tinged with pop nuances. The album is strewn with some half-decent vocal harmonies although for the most part Anders Mandrup\u2019s tone is somewhat of a misplaced warble, and if you ask me HeyWire still should be searching for that missing piece in regards to the vocals. There is nothing commanding about Mandrup\u2019s presence as each track basically drifts by without any real effect on the listener, and there appears to be a distinct lack of warmth about a style of music that I often find cosy. <\/p>\n

So, HeyWire\u2019s debut record is one that combines heaps of melody, a hard rock ethos and just a faint hint of power metal strategy, and yet there\u2019s rarely an epic or overly memorable moment. While nice subtleties are exhibited with \u2018Lean On Me\u2019 and \u2018Love\u2019, the rest of the rockier tracks seem to meander along with no real direction. As I stated previous, the keyboards can at times be the most colourful aspect of the material, but in other instances it tends to be a hindrance and yet without them this would be an incredibly dull opus.<\/p>\n

Although having more in common with the likes of Deep Purple than anything dynamically metal, as debut albums go this isn\u2019t one that is going to make an impact. Sometimes it\u2019s best to be cruel to be kind, and for me there\u2019s just something so nondescript about this offering.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HEYWIREHeyWire Massacre (2015)Rating: 4.5\/10 Formed in 2005, Danish band HeyWire has been through six lead vocalists over its career, but finally settled on the talents of a chap named Anders Mandrup (who also plays bass) who joins founding members Jay Jayson (guitar) and Taz Plummer (drums), alongside J\u00f8rgen Hansen (keyboards). HeyWire\u2019s self-titled debut offering consist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1648],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-heywire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24319"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24322,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24319\/revisions\/24322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}