The Hardest Heart is In Strict Confidence's ninth studio album.

[2] Regarding the long wait between albums, front-man Dennis Ostermann told Side-Line magazine: You need one thing when it comes to new In Strict Confidence album releases: patience.

Although we could have shortened the wait, we compensated for the delay with two preliminary singles.

All signs pointed to the fact that we can focus on our own strong points, we can focus on well- known classics and, while pushing the doors open, we can make our way forward.The artwork was created by Stefan Heilemann who previously collaborated with In Strict Confidence with his award-winning 2011 art book "Laugh, cry and scream", which had an accompanying CD of their music.

[4] He has also created artwork for bands such as Lindemann, Kamelot, Nightwish and Megaherz.