Finland’s melodic hard rockers Human Temple follow up Murder Of Crows that they released in 2010, with Halfway to heartache. The fantastic debut album Insomnia (2004) was filled with keyboard driven AOR with lots of hooks and catchy choruses. On Murder Of Crows they were a bit heavier, but still with lots of melodies and nice hooklines, but the guitars had taken over the keyboards. So their brand new album continues in the same style as MOC, but slightly heavier in places. I think they lose a lot of melodies and hooks when the guitars takes over the role that the keyboards had on the first album. There are a couple of nice rockers, but you will find some average songs and a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Little Lies, their version is pale.
The album starts nice with the heavy I Will Follow, with nice melodies and an OK chorus. On Like A Beat Of A Heart they show that they can write strong hookladen songs with wonderful melodies and a winning chorus, yes the keyboards are here. On Our World, Our Time they remind of another band from Finland called Urban Tale, nice song. Almost There is a good AOR-rocker with nice keyboards in the chorus. The first half of the album is better and the quality is not as good on the second half. The production is OK, but the drums could have a little more power. Halfway To Heartache is a solid melodic hardrock album, but it’s the weakest Human Temple album so far.
