Heathen Machine

Balance Of Power

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 1, 2004)
• Original Release Date: June 1, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: DCA Recordings
• ASIN: B0002HDBNO
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #264,497 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist
The Story so far…

Balance Of Power was started in 1995 with a handful of well-known London area rockers. Their first album, When the World Falls Down, was released the following year by Pony Canyon for Japan. After the success of that album, Pony Canyon became quite eager for the band to create a follow-up, but began putting pressure on the band regarding Tony Ritchie's vocal style.

They wanted Balance Of Power to have a more dynamic singer with a greater range. After the first audition with Lance King there was no decision to be made -- he was the ideal candidate and he was in. Tony continued to fulfill the role of songwriter.

About this time, guitarist Paul Curtis was becoming fed up with life in London, and decided it was time for him to retire from music completely. Tony Ritchie and Lionel Hicks had both previously worked with a guitarist by the name of Pete Southern. They knew Pete would be the perfect fit for Balance Of Power and brought him in to take Paul’s place.

For Balance Of Power’s second release Book of Secrets, inspiration was taken from "The Bible Code," a book by Michael Drosnin. The album was released in 1998 and received rave reviews from all over Europe and Japan. The songs "Seven Days into Nevermore"and "Miracles and Dreams" were in heavy rotation on all of the syndicated metal shows in Europe and Asia.

Following up on the success of Book of Secrets, Balance Of Power returned to the studio and recorded their next album, Ten More Tales of Grand Illusion, released in 1999. Balance Of Power began their first ever tour to back Ten More Tales later that year. They played 19 shows in 21 days, finally able to put to rest rumors that they were just a studio band. The tour was deemed the most successful metal tour in Germany over the past 2-3 years, with sold out venues across the country.

Work began immediately on their fourth album, titled Perfect Balance, which was released to rave reviews in 2001.This album quickly became the favorite of Balance Of Power fans everywhere with it’s mix of incredible vocals and progressive guitar work. Balance Of Power played their first US tour date in November at Prog Power II in Atlanta alongside ARK, EVERGREY, KAMELOT, and SYMPHONY X. In 2002 they also played for the first time at Bloodstock Festival in England. Shortly after the show, it was decided it would be in everyone’s best interest for them to part company with singer Lance King.

Work began on the album Heathen Machine, even though no replacement for Lance had been found. By the time the vocal tracks needed to be laid down, a few names were being tossed around as a suitable replacements for Lance. Tony and Lionel had heard through a mutual friend that John K of the band Biomechanical was interested in the vacant slot. Time was scheduled for him to lay down his ideas, and as soon as John set in, all agreed he was the perfect candidate for the job; recording of the vocals started that day.

Product Description
Heathen Machine has received rave reviews in the European press, including Album Of The Month in German metal bible Rock Hard and a rating of 11 out of 12 points in leading European metal magazine Heavy Oder Was?! BALANCE OF POWER's excellent musicianship, extraordinary vocals and great song writing on Heathen Machine has been compared to QUEENSRYCHE's masterpiece, Operation Mindcrime. Among the accolades the band has recently received include being placed on the cover of leading prog/power metal publication Power Packer Zine, a front page feature story on the highly regarded Canadian web zine metallian.com, as well as a stellar review and rating of 8.5/10 points in the top Brazilian metal publication, Roadie Crew magazine. Metal Core zine might have stated it best when they said that "Heathen Machine" was "the best CD I have heard in the last 3 years, bar none."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some Great Melodic Metal, September 10, 2005

By	Mr D. "Artist/Designer/Kibitzer" (Cave Creek, Az United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Honestly, take away the first two songs and you've got a solid five star album. Not that the first two tracks are bad. They're probably 4 stars. Balance of Power has always been good, especially on Perfect Balance but this album is unbelievable. Heathen Machine is a little less Power and a little more straight Melodic Metal than previous releases and that's all to the better. There's enough good Power Metal bands around and we could always use more good Melodic Metal bands and Balance of Power is developing into one of the best.

Balance of Power has a new singer named John something or other, who on a couple tracks, reminds me of, don't laugh, Queensryche's Geoff Tate.

If you like good heavy and melodic metal, dn't hesitate, pick this jewel up. You won't be sorry.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Heathen Machine Of Power Metal, April 2, 2005

By	Brent E. Johnson "Power M. Fan" (Naches, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

4.5 stars from Power M. Fan.
First off Lance King is gone. The new singer though carries this album well and of course the production is high quality so the change works. Much more of a Queensryche style vocalist, which, in my opinion, is a good thing. Although there has always been that comparison this New singer is even more Geoff Tateian. No other real changes are readily noticeable; B Of P is consistent, great metal. A little Progressive, a lot of straight Power metal and a classic fusion of the two. Very much worth owning. Addendum added july 16. This album has really grown on me so I upped the rating.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A New Balance of Power, November 25, 2005

By	Brian W. Ewert (Placerville, Ca USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I like Sym X, TNT, anything by DC Cooper, anything by Toni Harnell (westworld, starbreaker), anything by Jorn Lande, and I like this album. I have the previous BOP albums with Lance King and like them very much. This album took a few turns to grow on me (it's a little dark) but after some time I found it great. The front and middle of this project is awesome while it dwindles a little on the back half. Let me tell you though, tracks 1, 4,and 5 are the best I have heard ever since Savatage's ... album is escaping me right now... oh.. Power of the Night album (crack my cranium and stuck on you stuff). The production is not as clean as on previous albums, but BOP has clearly straight lined their line up and come up with awesome potential. Maybe next time they'll select a happier subject for their album... I hope so.