As requested, here’s one of the rarest indie albums from the prolific late ’80s / early ’90s American hard rock scene. The band is LONELY HEART and the album titled ”Mirage”, not only hard to find when originally released in 1990 (the CD was printed in limited copies) but also this Retrospect Records remastered reissue from some years ago that seems impossible to track down now.
Definitely LONELY HEART were a rara avis in the US rock scene; when everyone jumped into the glam hair metal wagon, or the thrash style, or at least the classic metal genre, this five piece did the music they wanted to do not caring about trends or with any commercial intention.
”Mirage” is a pretty unique Rock album for the era: while with a metal / hard rock foundation, most the songs are midtempo, almost ballad-like tunes. ‘Metal ballad’ would be the ‘genre’ these guys loved, creating atmospheres with flashes of intensity but always melodic.
LONELY HEART doesn’t fit into any specific category, to name a few you’ll find similarities to Crimson Glory, TNT early albums, Queensryche, Shok Paris, even some ’80s Stryper.
Rare
You’ve seen it first at anywhere
01 – Lonely Heart
02 – Drawn In
03 – Faraway
04 – Tell Me Why
05 – Years Gone By
06 – Follow You
07 – Where Is Home
08 – Runaway
09 – Flyin Above
10 – Fight
Joey Pettus – Vocals
Christopher Tapianno – Guitar
Izzy – Guitar
Steve Pettus – Bass
Gilbert Diaz – Drums