Call Upon The Author

Hero are a perplexing band, you’re never quite sure how to take them. Hailing from Canada, they’ve taken the name of their debut album from a Gaelic festival. The album cover too doesn’t seem to fit with their music in the slightest, depicting a medieval scene complete with monkeys on horseback, you’d think there would be a sense of humour present but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Open up the booklet and along with the usual artwork and lyrics you’ll find a glossary of terms, the purpose of which isn’t quite evident. Are they trying to make their material look intellectual and deep? If so, one listen to the album will throw this idea right out the window, being as is it is a pop record wrapped in some classic rock worship.
Opening with the sounds of a live audience and chants of “Hey Hey Hey”, you’d expect it to tear straight out of the gates but instead it just sort of muddles along and never truly picks up pace. There are plenty of chunky riffs, and some decent guitar work which, whilst aping their influences such as Queen and Led Zeppelin, are still quite decent. It’s let down by never kicking it up a step, the vocalist lacking the power and range of those influences.
“Hangover” shows a bit of variety from the usual classic rock-pop, with a country tinge to it, but the vocals let it down. They stumble during the intro, trying to fit the words where they just won’t go. While some artists are masters of piling as many lyrics as possible into a single line, here it just comes off as amateurish.
There are a lot of ideas knocking about in here, but they don’t seem to be used to their full potential. While there are some flourishes of something great, they aren’t used to craft a rounded and coherent song. Given time and experience though, they could eventually craft some awesome rock songs. As they are right now though, they have a way to go, and nothing on this album really stands out.