Albums Of The Year So Far (pt.5): Featuring Rush, Shinedown, Storm Corrosion, H.E.A.T. and more…

Rush: will they be Dave Ling's No.1 choice?

We asked various members of the Classic Rock team to come up with their Top Five Albums Of The Year So Far. We’ve already had selections from Sleazegrinder, Geoff Barton, Henry Yates and Scott Rowley. Now it’s Dave Ling’s turn to choose his quintet of fave-records-so-far.

5. H.E.A.T. – Address The Nation

Okay… the band’s name is crap, we’ll grant you that. But across the course of two albums (2008’s H.E.A.T and Freedom Rock in 2010) these nauseatingly youthful Swedes did a pretty good job of claiming the role of heirs to a throne once occupied by Bon Jovi, Europe, Journey and Whitesnake.

The shocking departure of talismanic, leonine-locked singer Kenny Leckremo appeared to have torpedoed all such aspirations. Few – including yours truly – believed that a spiky-haired former winner of Swedish Idol might adequately answer H.E.A.T.’s distress call but Erik Grönwall went and did exactly that.

Crammed to the brim with big choruses and sporting bigger hair than a member of Sigue Sigue Sputnik (with the exception of Grönwall), Address The Nation is a masterclass in the art of 80s-inspired arena hard rock.