The Heat
Artist: needtobreathe
Label: Word/Warner/Atlantic Records
Length: 14 Tracks/53.41 Minutes
 
needtobreathe’s sophomore album The Heat is a welcome and rocking progression for a band that showed a lot of promise on their debut CD.  The Heat kicks off with a short acoustic ditty and heads directly into the thumping drum-and-piano foundation of “Restless” (a cut that also features tasty harmonica licks!).  The Heat features some hot production by the band along with Collective Soul’s Ed Roland and Rick Beato…fans of Roland’s band and Britpop aficionados will find much to like here.  
 
The Heat  does not rock quite as hard as needtobreathe’s first CD Daylight, but the variety in tone and tempo brings a depth and variety needed (and missing from the band’s freshman effort) .  The lyrics feature improvement from needtobreathe as well…”Return to Me” is features a nice message from the heavenly Father to a prodigal son or daughter, and “Signature of the Divine (Yahweh)” offers a nice touch of praise.  Singer Bear Rinehart (what a cool name!) offers another rich and strong vocal performance as well.
 
needtobreathe has presented a solid group of 14 tracks that show real growth and present timeless truths in an interesting way. With the growth evidenced on this release it will be interesting to see needtobreathe continue to develop in the future.
 
Barry Nothstine hosts Soul Frequency Radio (http://www.soulfrequency.com), a weekly freeform FM radio show showcasing progressive rock, instrumental rock, power-pop, psychedelic rock, rock classics, blues, and more—great rock for the ages!