Following the socially conscious Ten Days in the Madhouse, Denise Ho returns with Heroes, an even more ambitious album that elevates her message about people and society into an almost mythical level. Working again with Hanjin Chen and her older brother Harris Ho (both of whom co-composed almost the entire album), Heroes takes a major step towards fixing Ten Days in the Madhouse's main problem by giving heavier emphasis on more pop-friendly compositions and less on experimental arrangements.

Part of the reason is the structure they're working with. Lyricist Wyman Wong, in charge of the entire album's lyrics, worked with HOCC (Ho's nickname) to create the structure for Heroes, using the idea of elevating everyday things into superhero characters as the album's overall thematic motif. This forces the two composers to not only think about the individual tracks, but also how each song matches the album's overall flow (they even created three instrumental interludes to separate the album by sections). The result is HOCC's biggest success in balancing concept and content, with the two playing equal role in the album.

The core of the album - individual portraits of the "superheroes" - is bookended by the album's two radio plugs. Opening track, the ballad "The Old Appointment" (Track 2), starts the album in a rather subdued manner that works in the overall structure of the album and in its lyrical intentions. The song itself, with an ambitious composition and a cinematic arrangement, also works perfectly well on its own. On the other hand, the remix of the song (Track 13) is obviously created for the concert performance, and the marching band arrangement doesn't carry the composition as well as the original.

After grouping the "superheroes" together, the story starts with "The Flying Eave" (Track 3) (the Cantonese word for "eaves" sounds similar to Cantonese for “person”), a big-band style track that appropriately kicks off the central focus of Heroes. Both the ever-changing arrangement and HOCC's vocal performance effectively deliver the song's playfulness, matching Wong's lyrics about a superhero that simply chooses to fly instead of saving people. However, the album then quickly slows down with the gentle rock song "The Fire Rouser" (Track 4), which ironically lacks the energy to carry either the concept or the lyrics. Heroes does pick up again immediately with the dark rock song "Crazy Grass" (Track 5). Even though it doesn't have enough in the composition to stand out, its dynamic arrangement ends the first half on a high note.

The second half starts off strong as well with the melancholic ballad "Ice Heart" (Track 7), which simply features a piano track, a cello, and a violin. Despite a relatively simple arrangement, "Ice Heart" succeeds with its elegant composition and HOCC's emotional vocal performance. However, the album abandons the emotions it has earned all too quickly with the light dance track "Face Book" (Track 8), as if the team is forcing the story to move along. With both the gospel-style song "Cocoa" (Track 9) and the ho-hum ballad "Nicole" (Track 10) too gentle to leave any lasting impression, it's obvious that the second half of Heroes doesn't measure to the well-paced first half.

The story does wrap up nicely with ending dance track "The Diamond Sutra" (Track 12). Composed by HOCC, the track is clearly designed for the climax of her new concert tour, and its energy wraps up the album in an engaging fashion. However, the song doesn't offer a satisfying conclusion to the Heroes story, making the album more a set of portraits that simply ends.

As was the case in Ten days in the Madhouse, HOCC once again lets the concept get in the way of the music. Even though the team has improved in emphasizing the composition more this time around, it also might have compensated too much the other way around, providing gentle songs that fail to live up to the strongest tracks of the album. Heroes is certainly entertaining and pleasing throughout, but the concept is so strong that the music simply complements it when it should've been strong enough to back it up.

On the other hand, the deviation from the arrangement-heavy style of Ten Days in the Madhouse fortunately does bring HOCC the vocalist back into the spotlight, though she still lacks the vocal presence her teacher Anita Mui could easily deliver. But flaws like this can easily be overlooked, considering that Heroes definitely elevates HOCC to a new level as a musician. The amount of thought she puts into every aspect of her music makes her a rarity among Cantopop musicians, and if HOCC and co. ever produce a sequel with more "superheroes", consider me signed up.

Recommended Tracks: "The Old Appointment" (Track 2), "The Flying Eave" (Track 3), "Wild Grass" (Track 5), "Ice Heart" (Track 7), "The Diamond Sutra" (Track 12)

by Kevin Ma