HEART LINE – Rock ‘N’ Roll Queen (2023) *HQ*

A year and a half after their debut album which caused a very well welcome surprise in the world of AOR / Melodic Rock, HEART LINE, founded by guitarist Yvan Guillevic, is “back in the game” with a new album via Pride & Joy Music.
Rich in catchy melodies and sharp riffs, “Rock ‘N’ Roll Queen” offers a concentrate of AOR / Melodic Rock, enriched with a touch of Classic Hard Rock, and gives the listener 12 powerful tracks in the pure verve of the glorious ’80s. The live playing is noticeable, the songs sound more mature and intense. From the vocals of Emmanuel Creis to the solos of Yvan, to the bold keyboard lines of Jorris Guilbaud and the sharp rhythm section of Dominique Braud (bass) and Walter Français (drums), everything now sounds bigger and louder.
Definitely an album that fans of the classic stuff in the vein of Foreigner, Journey, Heartland, Giant and many more will embrace with open arms.
Opening track, ‘I Am The Night‘ starts off with a crunching guitar solo from Guillevic, before Creis shows off his smooth vocals that swoop and dip with real verve and complement the music perfectly. ‘Till The End of Times’ has a heavier sound with Guillevic and bassist Braud combining perfectly, and drummer Français anchoring the sound with a superb performance on the drums. Later in the track, Guilbaud really goes to town with the keyboards to give the whole song a lift and take it in a new direction. It’s reminiscent of Europe in places and will be a really effective live track.

Every rock band should have a track titled ‘Call of the Wild’ in my opinion! Heart Line’s track of that name moves into more midtempo AOR territory and Creis shows off his earthier style, sounding like he’s channelling late ’80s Strangeways.
‘The Last Time’ is a semi-ballad AOR tune with a beautiful keyboard opening and it really works incredibly well. It stands comparison with any of the ballads that went massive in the ’80s, featuring brilliant vocals and a tightness of playing that gives it real heft. It’s a real standout track and perhaps Creis’ best vocal on the album.

Next, we have the title track. ‘Rock N Roll Queen’ is a no-nonsense melodic rocker where Braud’s bass is just excellent throughout and he provides the basis for the rest of the band to lift their games in no uncertain terms.
‘Living My Dreams’ is another track that will get the crowd singing along at gigs. It’s very catchy and has a poppy AOR music sensibility without sacrificing the rock sound that permeates this album. Along with ‘The Last Time‘ this is my favourite track on the album.

‘Hard to Believe’ starts off the second half of the album by cranking up the volume and the intensity to good effect, especially in the chorus that has a huge singalong potential. ‘Call Me’ is another ballad, and one that could easily have come from a band like Foreigner. It has a smoothness that works really well as a counterpoint to the previous track. In some albums a change of style can be quite jarring but here it just seems to work perfectly.

‘Hard Life’ is where HEART LINE shows why they are different fromt the rest: this is melodic rock but the guitars crunch more than usual in the genre, then the chorus turns pure AOR backed by synths fluff… darn, this is really good!
At the start of ‘Reach For The Stars’ there is the commentary on a rocket launch in the background, for a track with a melodic rock pulse in the current Scandinavian style, reminding me of One Desire. Strong tune.

‘The Fire Still Burns’ returns to the poppy melodic rock territory that HEART LINE so successfully mine. They really know how to put a track together that hits all those Melodic Rock buttons, and this is perhaps the nearest we get to a music manifesto from them. They take the best of their predecessors and add their own very effective Gallic touch.
The final track is ‘Keeper of Desire’ which starts with a really good drum solo that continues to underpin the track throughout and shows how good Français is behind that drum kit. All of the elements that have come into play throughout the rest of the album are in evidence here, and ‘Rock N Roll Queen’s final track distils them really effectively in an excellent closer.

HEART LINE are a group with a real feel for rock music across the decades and in ‘Rock N Roll Queen‘ they have produced an album that cleverly and simply hits the spot time after time. It’s all pure late ’80s stuff, catchy, melodious, anthemic.
As said, the band has their own ‘special’ touch, especially the guitar sound – crunchier and works greatly, believe me – distinctive smooth vocals and a clever use of keys / synths.
A winner!

01 – I Am The Night
02 – Till The End Of Times
03 – Call Of The Wild
04 – The Last Time
05 – Rock’n Roll Queen
06 – Living My Dreams
07 – Hard To Believe
08 – Call Me
09 – Hard Life
10 – Reach For The Stars
11 – The Fire Still Burns
12 – Keeper Of Desire

Emmanuel Creis (v)
Yvan Guillevic (g)
Jorris Guilbaud (k)
Dominique Braud (b)
Walter Français (d)

Pre order:
shop.season-of-mist.com/heart-line-rock-n-roll-queen-cd