” Paean “ a song of triumph speaks of turning the corner and letting go of the past, embracing life and celebrating it. There is a lot of groove in this tune and is a little reminiscent of Aerosmith without screaming vocals. Guitar arrangements shine on this tune as well as some nice slide guitar work and classical harp.” Who’s Sad ” has kind of a 70’s vibe to it with the synthesizer work and ” George Benson ” jazzy style guitar work. Easy, Cool, and Breezy .

The ninth track rocks hard with a combination of new technology and very tricky musicianship. All the stops were pulled out on this one in terms of blazing guitar. Having said that nothing is overt. Not that you have to struggle to listen for it, it’s just the playing again in typical Hero fashion is made to complement the song so tastefully. ” Bridges Burning ” is a classic.

” Sea Islands ” takes us to South Carolina. A great story, catchy, hard to get out of your head! You may have to give it a few spins, be careful you could get hooked. AC/DC like backing and assuming you’re old enough to remember something like the ” Tubes” thrown in. ” Glenns’ Crossing ” is another fantastic example of how Hero merges international instrumentation together to sound like a cohesive, natural common entity. Starting with Taiko drums from Japan the rhythm merges with highland drumming from Scotland and Pipes from Ireland.

The final track ” New Day ” although somewhat dark lyrically suggests of letting go of past cyclical problems for new hope and change for the better. Wonderful string as well as vocal arrangements really stand out. This record is a rebirth of rock, a renassaince of progressive music, culminating in a fusion of international sounds and technology, old fashioned experience, talent, hard work and dedication to craft.

Although ” Fires Of Beltain “ may never be represented in Buddhist Thanka art and iconography there is an almost spiritual element to this record. Extremely well recorded and written this is a very mature album with fantastic vocal and guitar harmonies reminiscent of Queen. Like Queen there is enough variety on this record to interest most people who appreciate high quality music. This must have taken ages to put together. Although very complex at times all the songs are very accessible and intriguing at the same time.

Slick, polished, exciting, refreshing and original FIRES OF BELTAIN is an extraordinary debut by HERO www.heromusic.ca / www.myspace.com/heromusiccanada

New Technology Transforms Digital Recording into Modern Art

Ottawa, Ontario - Sean MacFadyen, lead singer in the new rock band HERO is a Canadian businessman and musician living in Ottawa, who brings new meaning to modern Rock in the age of technology. Always with a discriminating producers eye, the artist in Sean has a passion for music, writing,film, fine art and technology. He has combined man made elements with nature’s beauty and his own considerable talent to create what he calls Digital Soundcanvas Painting.

In travels around the world, MacFadyen gets inspiration from nature and the influence of other cultures he encounters along the way. Sean says ” you will hear everything from tin whistle to Japanese Taiko Drums!” Hero’s forthcoming release ” Fires Of Beltain ” is due out Spring 2010. ” Under a full moon ”

Hero focuses in on these cultural sounds along with modern sound manipulation techniques, special effects, nature sounds, and musical chops that go well above the norm thus creating the art that later becomes their digitallycoloured soundscape. These are original, high tech sounds morphed with classical music ( European) , Celtic, Rock, Progressive, with hints of Country Music, Rhythm and Blues and Adult Oriented thrown in.

Sean says, ” We didn’t have any problems about deciding what lightning to use or anything like that, however I think my brother may have been startled because of some of the songs structure. So when I call a verse mixed with a chorus becomes a vorus to introduce the song is presented to him he says - ” what are you doing ! Once we got past that then things took care of themselves. I hadn’t worked with my brother for twenty years”

” Corey had produced over fifty records by the time we hooked up! We were both emotional wrecks.” He had the blood sucked out of him for so many years, having the chops, having the ideas, having the know how, little miracles of the universe that never happened. Along I came and here we are now. Some things may be common in what we see every day; other subjects are rare and seldom apparently seen to the naked eye.

The technique Corey used to process, modify and enhance the sonic soundscape is both etherial and heavy.” Basically what we do is lay down the structure of the song and then Corey starts writing the drum parts, then fills the pallet full with whatever orchestrations, percussion and so forth until we have say 100 tracks or more. The process is essentially an editing process from there on. To work this way is extremely time consuming, however it allows us to take the material in all kinds of different directions and opens the door to multiple mixes that can be offered at a later date to our fans. Certainly with digital automation songs at least are easier to mix than in the past. ” Working with the computer was a daunting task at first ” says Sean. However Corey has been working in this medium for over 15 years.

” For a lot of people now days the only medium they know is digital but this was the first time I had worked extensively in the digital domain and when you’ve spent your whole life relying on the warmth of analog and then switch to digital it can be very unsettling.” Having said that both Corey and Sean agree that the upsides are tremendous and have enabled them to do things that would previously been impossible.

Corey MacFadyen, a producer and an artist, is now a member of Hero. He has developed and perfected techniques with his own original stamp that were used well before guys like the great producer Mutt Lange uses today. Corey ’s innovative use of technology along with Seans’ unique song craft breathes new life into the common digital recording medium. The upcoming release of Hero’s Fires Of Beltain is something you can listen to over and over and still hear new things - like the classics of the past the time has been put into this record and it shows.