Artist: Brother Firetribe
Label: Spinefarm Records
Release: 2008
Running time: 44.20
Rating: 4.5/5
That’s what happens when you get “sick of” making things happen in your main band… Well, well… Let’s flip the record over to side B and kick off this review on a positive note. Emppu Vuorinen is probably a name you know. The likable, blond, pint-sized guitarist of the hugely popular Nightwish founded Brother Firetribe, if my brain’s processor doesn’t fail me, in 2002. What began as an innocent side project, a parallel Nightwish outlet for unlived musical dreams, ran into an unexpectedly enthusiastic response from the critical music crowd with the release of the debut “False Metal” (2006). After that the guys tightened their ranks even more and squeezed out the follow-up, “Heart Full Of Fire”. So they went at it in a thoroughly businesslike and professional way, something Emppu clearly took straight from his Nightwish experience.
Anyone who knows “False Metal” won’t be surprised by the new album. It’s a Scandinavian take on the hunt for melodically perfect polish in hard rock tightness. Mixed into it is a glam whiff of North America and the urges of AOR rock, with the typical multi-part harmonic hooks and a poisonously catchy curtain of synths that builds on the eighties revival. That should cover a wide range of people who might find Brother Firetribe interesting. From Whitesnake 1987 and good old Europe all the way to Surviror, Journey or Night Ranger. But production-wise modernized, of course.
As we stroll through the AOR flavors of the new album’s songs, if we’re looking for parallels to make it easier to find our bearings, let me throw in that Game They Call Love, for example, is a real cross between Jounrney (the chorus) and the west-coast AOR influence of the likes of Survivor or Night Ranger (the pre-chorus). A poisonously effective chorus hook that grabs the listener in an instant and gives you goosebumps all over!
Emppu has excellent collaborators in the lineup, but this recipe probably wouldn’t have come together without Leverage singer Pekka Ansio Heino. The guy is no thin, squeaky, chirping Scandinavian sparrow of the Timo Kotipelto (Stratovarius) type and the like, but has a mid-oriented range full of warmth and velvet. Believe me, the style Brother Firetribe cultivate, when looking for an adequate vocalist among the Scandinavian vocal aces, would suit none other than the famous “false Coverdale” a.k.a. Jorn Lande best.
Even though the band decided to put out two singles to promote the album, represented by Runaway and I Am Rock (this is not a Simon & Garfunkel cover!), there are even more candidates for that role on the album. In the paragraphs above we analytically marked out the expressive range the band moves within. But even for a narrow specialist like Brother Firetribe, let me hint that the band defies this limitation incredibly effectively, with a variety of basic motifs that build the pomp of this album. Even though they all radiate the same frequency vibration, they keep the listener hooked with a perfect feel for the harmony of the lead melodies.
There are certainly a few facts that speak in favor of Brother Firetribe becoming more popular. Quite a bit of dust in the melodic hard rock comeback was first kicked up three years ago by Lordi. Especially in Scandinavia, bands like H.E.A.T., Hardcore Superstar, Wig Wam, The Poodles and Crash Diet have gotten more media exposure and crowd interest over the last four years. If I’m being a little wicked, but generous toward Brother Firetribe, imagine the crowds suddenly getting as interested in Brother Firetribe as they are in Nightwish. Sadly, Emppu isn’t physiologically built like Anette Olzon or the eternal princess on the pea, her predecessor Tarja, so that will probably never happen.
Brother Firetribe come across as strictly professional, while at the same time showing a lot of feeling for the AOR elements in rock music. That’s defined by the effective cover of Chasing The Angels, which was used as a film soundtrack track in Iron Eagle and is sung in the original by Loverboy singer Mike Reno. Anette Olzon’s duet with Pekka on the album’s title track is interesting too. A fairly logical turn of events, given Anette’s “pre-Nightwish era” AOR rock band Alyson Avenue.
“Heart Full Of Fire” is kitted out from head to toe with poisonous melodicism, arena-sized hooks and bombastic production. And that goes from the opener Who Will You Run To Now to the closer I Am Rock. It’s hard to pick a favorite, and yet Who Will You Run To Now, Wildest Dream, Play It From The Heart, Game They Call Love and Going Out With A Gang, perhaps with melancholy, perfectly singable, AOR-spiced choruses, light the album up the most. So this is an album that, after the first listen, doesn’t yet tell you much more than the debut “False Metal”. It has to spin in your player a few times before you can make out its even greater compositional polish on the individual AOR/melodic rock firestarters, its even greater variety among the songs’ lead melodies and its higher consistency of material overall, compared to “False Metal”. So: sticking to the path with a new step up. Long live melodic rock revivalism!
Lineup
Pekka Ansio Heino – vocals
Emppu Vuorinen – guitar
Tomppa Nikulainen – keyboards
Jason Flinck – bass guitar, backing vocals
Kalle Torniainen – drums
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Anette Olzon – vocal duet on track no. 6
Production
Emppu Vuorinen & Tomppa Nikulainen
Track list
1. Who Will You Run To Now
2. Wildest Dreams
3. Runaways
4. Game They Call Love
5. Play It From The Heart
6. Heart Full Of Fire
7. Heard It On My Radio
8. Going Out With A Bang
9. Out Of My Head
10. Chasing The Angels
11. I Am Rock
