Review: Hearts On Fire – Signs & Wonders

Pride & Joy Music (July 25^th, 2025)

Reviewer – Jason Hopper

Hearts On Fire return from a seven-year hiatus with second album ‘Signs & Wonders‘, this time with prolific frontman Mark Boals. Full disclosure, I have not heard their debut album, so I’m going into this with fresh ears.

I’ve lived with this album for a few weeks now. I would play it, walk away for a few days, play it again, and so on. I did this five times. After every time, I did not have the desire to return to it immediately and I struggled to understand why. 

The album has melodic hooks. The band is tight. The melodies, while not groundbreaking, are indicative of what makes this genre so great. Mark Boals, despite his age, sounds as strong as he ever has …so what gives?

I believe the problem lies in the production. The quality is not poor, quite the opposite. It sounds overproduced, reducing the impact of all the instruments.

There’s a certain popular label that has been routinely accused of releasing product that all sound the same, very safe and standard, with the same production people and equipment. The type of album that is produced there sounds cookie cutter. That is what seems to have happened here. The instruments have no edge to them. The guitars have no grit, the drums sound thin, and the keyboards fill out the songs but sound basic, like keyboardist Eric Ragno is phoning it in.

Producer Dennis Ward has made some great quality music over the years, producing and mixing various bands he was a part of (PC69 and Khymera). Here, everything sounds milquetoast and safe. There’s no excitement, urgency, or passion. It is the type of music you would play in the background while working on chores. Something to fill the air that’s pleasant sounding but not too distracting.

The one standout song for me is ‘Restless Heart’. The keyboards really stand out and pulsate, giving some immediacy to the track  It has a similar vibe to Crown of Thorns’ ‘Heaven Tonight’, which is a favorite track from that band. Mr. Ragno carries this tune and brings it to life with his melody line.

This is one of the toughest reviews I ever had to write. It’s always tough to write a review of an album that is neither bad nor good. It is middle of the road, standard sounding melodies with a production that fails to energize the listener. I listened to it two more times while writing this review and I still feel nothing. I’m going to forget it the moment I am done playing it and that is a shame. This album could have been so much more with a production that did not have such a gloss over it. 

Many of the people involved are seasoned professionals and it feels like they’ve lost the fire that use to make their music sound so great. I would check out their first album to see a comparison, but I have no desire to do that. What I will say is, if you are a fan of the first album, then this one may interest you as well. I’m sure there are people who are not bothered by the items I pointed out as critiques, but for my ears, this album failed to move me in any way. 

Tracklist:

1. Signs in the Sky
2. Collective Mind
3. Lights & Shadows
4. Stay in This Moment
5. Blood Moon
6. Eleventh Hour
7. World Torn in Two
8. Rearview Mirror
9. Restless Heart
10. Battlefield
11. Road to Eternity

Line-up:

Mark Boals (Lead and Background Vocals)

Jean Funes (Guitars)

Joel Mejia (Drums)

Eric Ragno (Keyboards)

Additional Musician: Dennis Ward (Bass)

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