Regime - Straight Through Your Heart (Re-issue)

Retroactive Records

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Yet another re-release from Retroactive Records, and this one is pretty good.  Regime was fronted by Rick Martinez of the metal band, Soldier.  How this band never got signed is beyond me.  Martinez started Regime in 1990, but this album is drenched with the 1980’s.  The only reason I can see that Regime never got the recognition they deserved was the fact that they showed up on the scene too late as metal had already taken a hit when the ‘90’s arrived.

 

This is some pretty high quality melodic metal that will appeal greatly to fans of Stryper, early Guardian, Soldier, Book of Secrets era Balance of Power, and even Rob Rock.  In fact, the songs “Straight Through Your Heart” and “Louder Than Hell” sound like they could be Rob Rock himself singing.

 

This material has never been available on CD before and it has been digitally re-mastered and ends up sounding pretty good.  I’ve never heard the originals so I can’t compare as to how much of a difference the re-mastering accomplished.  There are also six bonus live tracks included on the end and the CD booklet, while not having lyrics, has in-depth liner notes from Rick Martinez regarding the history of the band and background on each song.

 

If you are a long-time Regime fan or someone who loved the commercial metal bands back in the day, this will be right up your alley.  It’s got soaring guitar solos, big background vocals, the obligatory ballad, and a lame album cover.  What more could you want?

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