Review HEART ATTACK ‘Negative Sun’

Cannes is known for the film festival, for glamour and sunshine. But metal? A band that started in 2006 to brings Cannes on the metal map is Heart Attack. Hailing from Southern France, the quartet didn’t rush towards the release of their debut album. It took until 2013 before the first Heart Attack longplayer reached the record stores.

‘Stop Pretending’ was the title of the first album Heart Attack unleashed and with ‘The Resilience’ a next effort followed three years later. So far being more of band know by insiders, things could change after Heart Attack signed with Atomic Fire Records. The band will release their third record, ‘Negative Sun’, via the German label which could be springboard for the band to establish themselves and make their music available to many more metalheads.

‘Negative Sun’ is an album that shows a lot of versatility. In general, one can describe the sound of Heart Attack as grooving thrash Metal. This is for sure the base for each of the ten songs and there is more to discover. Listening to ‘World Consumption’ and the hoarse screams open a door towards blackened metal without going through this portal. The calmer middle part and the blistering solo brings back the more traditional metal approach and at the same time shows the variation, the band embed in their music.

‘Septic Melody’ is much more straight to the point and a first thrash metal statement after the intro ‘Rituals’ fade away. ‘The Messenger’ is a mid-pace song with booming riffs being in focus. ‘Bound to This Land’ shows a similar approach. It is a raging metal song with well-integrated tempo-changes. And there is no way to avoid headbanging when listening to this signature song.

The title track ‘Negative Sun’ closes the album. With high pace and well-done breaks Heart Attack ends the album with a strong statement about their music. The chorus is made for live shows and the crowd certainly will go wild when the riffs of this tune fill any room. Melody also doesn’t fall short and enriches the middle section before riffpower takes over again.

I must admit that I haven’t had Heart Attack on my metal radar. This changed after having pressed the ‘Start’-button because what leaves the speakers is grooving and well-forged metal that invites for jumping around and headbanging from start to finish. And latest by now everybody knows that Cannes has more to offer than a film festival. Metal has a home in Cannes too.