Heart Attack – Negative Sun
Release Date: 10th June 2022
Label: Atomic Fire Records
Pre-Order/Pre-Save
Genre: Groove Metal, Thrash Metal, Hard Rock.
FFO: Gojira, Machine Head, Metallica, Lamb of God.
Review By: Jason James
Heart Attack prepare to release Negative Sun, coming 5 years after 2017’s The Resilience. The album was finished in summer 2020, but we can all successfully guess why the band have delayed the release of the upcoming riff-fest.
Heart Attack hail from Cannes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France, where they beat out 79 other French bands to win the Headbang Contest at the Divan du Monde in Paris and then went on to topple 399 other European bands to claim first place in the Resurrection Band Contest. Since then, they have played on tour stages with bands like Trivium, Opeth and Megadeth, who they opened for in Lyon.
Kevin Geyer (rhythm guitars, vocals), Chris Cesari (lead guitars, keyboards), Will Ribeiro (bass guitar, vocals), and Christophe Icard (drums) offer another serving of sonic violence with Negative Sun. Fans of the French foursome will already know what to expect. A collection of ear-melting tracks coupled with savage vocals are the order of the day here. Their sound has evolved since their last outing, though.
There are elements of a few genres on show here, with elements of the premier bands in that genre. The album starts with what seems like an attempt at ‘The Hu’-like Mongolian throat singing at the beginning of Track 1, Rituals. What follows is a steady ramping up of sound until we blast into Septic Melody. We are then treated to another 8 tracks of brutal barbarity, ending with a surprising but fun cover of Phil Collins’ Jesus He Knows Me. There’s early Metallica at work in a lot of their sound, as well as nods to bands like Devildriver and shades of Slipknot in some of the drum work. Almost every song on the album is punctuated with a pick shredding solo, and there are also choral harmonies on a few tracks to fill out the sound and accentuate the grandeur of the album.
Heart Attack have placed themselves in a healthy position within the framework of the metal scene. Their sound fits in with the sound of so many different bands that they would work on almost any bill, whether that is as support on the tour of a bigger band or headlining a smaller show themselves. Their hard work seems to be paying off.
(3.5 / 5)
