I love listening to bands from non-commercial countries. Whether their music can be good or bad, it's really healthy to have the word of Rock and Metal spread allover the world and not just to capital realms. TOXIC HEART comes from Slovenia and their Ride Your Life full CD is quite interesting, if your taste lies on the...
...melodic sleaze/Rock path, a fashion always boasting British/American characteristics but widely expressed in Scandinavia - and Sweden, in particular - the last years. Someone would be rather an optimistic person to predict lipstick and hairspray would climb up again in the ladder of money-making recognition, specifically in an era full of aggression and 'macho' style embodied in current 'hard' music. History into circles? Maybe...
TOXIC HEART is a band with a more rockin' approach and not that much into the sleaze bin; they do not use the genre's outlook, anyway. In ten tracks' time you can listen to a 'positive vibe' set of songs, based on good melodies, a touch of Glam moments and a modern Rock spirit with - not a big talk - enough of personality. Listening to Ticket, This One, Big Time and One Night stand for some more times I could not stop - gradually -  thinking TOXIC HEART have filtered their influences quite well; you can see this from the way they choose to jump from the verse to the chorus, the riffs they use in order to back their solos, even from the back-up vocal lines. Everything is placed according to the main melody's - guitarwise or vocalwise - needs and that's a good thing for this hopeful quartet.
Things to be worked are not more than maybe a couple, but both are crucial ones (hence the grade): the sound is not as dynamic as needed for this 'party' kind of music -I know it's a self-financed release - with the bass/drums parts requiring a more convincing and/or striking volume. The vocals of Axl, also, do need more accuracy; it's weird most singers from non-English countries are pale in their accent. Weird enough, this is not the case here as the vocals are as American as they can be (know whatcha mean...) but I believe there's more to be fixed in the 'convincing voice' section, as in most songs the singing can be judged as somehow juvenile. Not bad, in any way, but not that man-crafted.
TOXIC HEART's album reveals a band capable of offering good moments, nonetheless. Fans who would not say 'no' to fresh plain songs bringing bands like TRIXTER, CULT, HANOI ROCKS, SKID ROW and even U2 to mind will have a good time anyway. The band can surely do even better, it's obvious. And - not to forget - a groove like the one in Like The Way I Feel is a good way to end up a CD audition!

P.S.: Baby's main theme would be loved by many AOR bands...