Artist: Brother Firetribe
Label: Spinefarm Records
Released: 2006
Rating: 3.5/5
And now Finland has gone off too! This country has also turned up a band that decided to cultivate classic melodic hard rock dressed in old-school AOR shades, but driven under the baton of the technological achievements of today’s recording studios. We’re talking about Brother Firetribe, founded by guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, a member of the far more notorious and mainstream symphonic power metallers Nightwish, who still haven’t found a replacement for their runaway charismatic singer Tarja Turunen. Bands flirting with the elements of classic melodic hard rock are clearly getting more and more popular, as the musical direction of some other groups of the sort proves. So Brother Firetribe aren’t alone here. And as usual, this time too in recycling old trends, the Scandinavians are once again ahead of the rest of the world, since the Swedes today have, for example, their “poodles” – The Poodles, and the Norwegians have Wig Wam. Stylistically, though, both bands steer away from Brother Firetribe.
Brother Firetribe bring the symphonic, modern elements of Nightwish into their sound, and the dramatic keyboard sound in most of the chosen passages, which dominates the record, is especially to blame for that. The guitars in the production sit in an evenly matched contrast with the keyboards (the lighter Devil’s Daughter carries a massive guitar riff, next to which there’s an interesting keyboard motif that, at the transition point right before the chorus, sounds straight out of Limahl’s legendary hit Neverending Story). Besides this basic “black and white” contrast, which complements itself perfectly in sound, there’s a third equal link: the dead-catchy vocal of metal singer Laverage’s Pekka Heino, who comes at it with a shade more warmth and a “raspy silkiness” compared to the clean vocal he offers in Laverage. The vocal is interesting, has a distinctive color, and is explosive and resolute in every register. It leans toward Robin Zander (Cheap Trick) with a breath of the velvet of Dare. Love Goes Down literally kills with the dramatic operatic quality of its vocal, which even his most illustrious lordship “Čufta” – Meat Loaf wouldn’t be ashamed of. With its chorus, this song is the undisputed atmospheric peak of the record.
As for the songs, you can only gape. They all carry a massive, pompous, bombastic production, where the instruments are individually run through a filtering sieve of contrasts, pushed in sound to the maximum and merged together into an equal balance of crystal-clear production (you can even hear the bass line distinctly!). The keyboards add a touch of early Bon Jovi or Van Halen, and if we listen with European ears, we wouldn’t miss by much by throwing in names like Magnum or early Dare. The songs carry rock-solid choruses that grab most of your attention and win you over on the first listen. A real reflection of 80s AOR pomp is caught in Midnite Queen, for instance. It’s simply a song you have to spin when a hot kitten is next to you, ready for all sorts of night-time mischief (!), while the song One Single Breath carries the absolute potential of a hit and was also released as a “single”. So the tracks deliver one ear-grabbing chorus after another, with AOR-oriented “backing” vocal multi-harmonic arrangements, supported by the massive sound of the keyboards on one side and melodic guitar “riffing” on the other. On this dynamic album, Spanish Eyes stands out with its warm opening Hammond sound in the Procol Harum vein – a calmer point on the album, then, after which the album closes with the heaviest “riff” of the record in terms of production in the song Kill City Kid, with another infectious chorus that’s simply perfect for the end of this highly atmospheric and dynamic album.
Brother Firetribe figured that now is the right time to combine modern production approaches with the revitalization of some old classic hard rock riffs. It all sounds fresh, convincingly played with big balls. Relentless and powerful. “False Metal” is an excellent, bold move by the band in search of its own recognizable niche by building in classic elements. On release, the album reached the highest position – number 22 – on the national Finnish chart of best-selling records. So, a “detonation” right out of the gate!
Lineup
Pekka Ansio Heino – vocals
Emppu Vuorinen – guitar
Tomppa Nikulainen – keyboards
Jason Flinck – bass guitar
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Kalle Torniainen – drums
Track list
1. Break Out
2. Valerie
3. I’m On Fire
4. Love Goes Down
5. Devil’s Daughter
6. Midnite Queen
7. One Single Breath
8. Lover Tonight
9. Spanish Eyes
10. Kill City Kid
Album length: 45.01
