The story of Heartcry started in the late 1980's. Anders Johansson had played with the bands Green Sleeves (1978-1983) and Johannes (1983-1989). But he wanted to try something different, so he started to work on a project called Heartcry. He started out with his old friend Dan Tibell. Together with Kjell Lundström they recorded an album called 'Come Back Home', in Södermalm Studios in Stockholm, Sweden in 1990. Their style at that time was more light rock /pop-rock. The musicians on the album were Jack Kelly (drums), Jerry Grimaldi (bass), Pelle Petersson (drums), Dan Tibell (keyboards & Hammond organ) and Irene Myrberg (backing vocals). Unfortunately the managers for the band failed to promote the record, and only about 4000 records were sold world wide. Still, Anders decided to put together a full band instead. The first line-up was Anders Johansson (guitar, vocals), Mick Nordstrom (drums), Mike Sand (bass), Irene Myrberg (backing vocals), Anders Carlson (keyboards). A long touring period took place between -91 and -96 (now with Urban Strom replacing Mick on drums). Finally a second album, simply entitled 'Heartcry', saw the light of day in 1996. The lyrics were in Swedish. Also the next CD released in 1997, entitled 'Ökenland' (meaning Desert land), had lyrics in Swedish. In Japan, thanks to Janne Stark (Stark Music) the band got some success. The Record company Chinseido released a special CD with the band, but the lyrics in Swedish wasn’t such a smart thing, so it quickly disappeared from the market. The lineup in -96 was Anders Johansson (guitar, vocals), Jörgen Olausson (bass), Anders Carlsson-Tingsvik (keyboards), Dan Bostrom (guitar, replaced Anders on keyboard in -98), Christian Eidevald (drums). In -99 Anders felt it hard to perform and carry the load of the band, so it was put on ice. After three years long rest, the vision of Heartcry begun to fly again. New songs were made, and getting together with old friends from Green Sleeves and doing some recordings, did the trick. After a meeting with Anders Kollerfors (drums), Björn Klingvall (bass) and Dan Tibell (keyboards, Hammond organ) in 2004, the boys started what would become 'Lightmaker', released on Rivel Records in 2005.

LIGHTMAKER (2005) RIVEL

I was sure that 'Lightmaker' was a debut album from a new band. But after some investigation, I found out that this is fact the bands 4th album. Anders Johansson (no relation to the drummer for Hammerfall and Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force) is the driving force in this band. The most noticeable member of this band is still Dan Tibell, more known for his involvement with Jerusalem. I have to admit that I had a hard time listening to this album at first. Anders did not sound good as a vocalist, and the production on this album is pretty raw. But after several more spins, the music opened up to me. And now I quite enjoy most of this album. There is no doubt that the contours of something good is present in all of the tracks here. Songs like "Burn Out" and "End Of Times" are really good, much thanks to memorable choruses. Catchy songwriting have never hurt anyone! And Dan's playing is what glues this album together. He is truly one fine keyboard and Hammond player. If you haven't figured it out yet, Heartcry play 70's inspirited hardrock/metal. One look at the thank you list in the booklet will show you influences such as Uriah Heep, Nazareth, Judas Priest, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake etc. Add to that the fact that Anders voice sounds like Ulf Christiansson with a severe cold, and you might get the idea. All in all a decent effort, but not one that will get too many spins in my player.

Killer tracks: Battleground, Burn Out, End Of Times

Related artists: 

Jerusalem, Björn Stigsson