SHAFT OF STEEL is a Hard Rock band from London, which surprised me, because by their name and album cover I thought they were a Power Metal band. Well, those guys have recently released their newest album "Steel Heartbeat" and that's what we are going to talk about. The opening song from the album is "Touching You Every Day" and it starts out with the classical synthesizer used back in the 80's and a great and melodic guitar riff. It feels like these young fellows come out from the eighties golden era. Great song.

"I've Never Been Alone (With a Girl Like You Before)" starts out with a great guitar riff that reminded me of EDGUY and it has a little bit more of a Rock N' Roll touch when it comes to the guitar riffs. The instrumental follows the line of the previous song and the vocal lines are really good here and The guitar is good as well. "All Because Of You" starts out with a very cool guitar riff and synthesizer completing the sound. The vocal lines from the stanzas are cool and the guitar arrangements are pretty cool as well. The chorus is catchy and the vocals are impressive over there.

"Together as One Tonight" starts out with the same kind of riff from the previous song and it feels that its a perfect song for an 80's classic movie. There's a lot of good things here and the drums sounds pretty cool on this one and the keyboards as well. The song turns into something more excited and gives a great feeling. "Vulnerable Man" starts out with a clean guitar sound and a very cool keyboard vibe that reminded me once again of Tobias Sammet stuff. I liked everything on this song, the riffs, the keyboards, the drums and bass as great. The vocals are really good here and the backing vocals are pretty tight.

"Falling Through the Flames" starts with a synthesizer that creates a cool ambiance for the vocals that hits in. The some great high vocals here and its pretty Metal as well. "Body and Mind" starts out with a beautiful deep piano followed by an inspiring guitar solo that will transport you to somewhere else. The song grows slowly until it hits the chorus where you will be singing it to your guts!  Fuckin' great song. "Lucky Girl" starts out with a great duet between the guitar and keyboards. Its a faster song and the riffs here are pretty Hard Rock.  "You See Smoke When I See Fire" starts out with cool drums and piano that are soon joined by the amazing guitar work that created the perfect ambiance to the sweet vocals.

"Every Time I Look at You" is the song that closes the album and it starts out with a very sweet and calm piano and synthesizer making the arrangement and the bass lines are pretty good over here. This song has a beautiful and pure work of piano and the highlight probably goes to that guy. There's a great guitar, vocal and bass work here as well. It was a great song to end a great album.

SHAFT OF STEEL has written and recorded a great Hard Rock album. I really don't know how those guys made a classic 80's Hard Rock album these days. But I'm pretty sure that Rock N' Roll is pretty happy with this band and well, open a beer, go the drive-in and enjoy the 80's Hard Rock.