Artist: Burn
Label: Formula One Records
Release: 2007
Rating: 3/5
“Global Warning” is yet another in the long line of modern-day comebacks by melodic hard rock bands. This time it’s the return of Burn. The band put out their second album, “Spark Of The Flame”, in 1995, and then sank into the sea of unfashionability that swallowed the genre they were playing. Well, the rock universe definitely needs some recycling. It can’t do without it. And Burn’s return to the rock scene is one of the nicer things to happen, one that every fan of top-notch melodic hard rock will welcome. That scene is currently buried deep underground, but it’s teeming with first-rate bands.
Of course, nothing lasts forever, and that goes for the 1995 Burn lineup too, so only half of the original crew made it onto the new album. Still on board from the original Burn are vocalist Jeff Ogden, bassist Marc Stackhouse, and keyboardist Barney Stackhouse, his little brother, who also produced “Global Warning”. The band has beefed up with a guitar duo, Phil Hammond and Julian Nichols, while the drum seat went to the seasoned Benyi Reid, who cut his teeth with Ted Nugent, that connoisseur of American beans and peanut butter, and with Praying Mantis, legends of the British N.W.O.B.H.M.
Given the excellent debut “So Far, So Bad” (1993) and “Spark Of The Flame”, the band had a tough job ahead of them: topping those two, or at least matching them, with “Global Warning”. And the result? Maybe it’s just my enthusiasm talking, maybe not, but the least I can say is that the result is spotless. In English you’d say “flawless”, but I don’t know a translation with the same juiciness. The guys have put together eleven tight songs marked by impeccable melodic perfection. You can tell they haven’t played together in a full 12 years, with the ideas sitting on paper and recording tapes that probably lay forgotten in the corners of the band members’ rooms until last year. Ogden has a top-class melodic voice, mostly clean with a slightly sharp edge. It’s explosive and dominant, or subtly emotional, but real the whole way through. The guys breathed a tremendous sense of drama and bombast into every song. The songs carry a slightly dark tinge, and as is typical of British melodic hard rock bands, they’re incredibly successful and convincing at conjuring that touch of tragedy that hovers in the air the whole time you’re listening.
The songs have a polished, clean production, yet it’s packed with live “drive” fire. Both guitars in the band’s lineup bring a solid, uncompromising, traditionally robust hard rock sound, which is of course much heavier than what we know from today’s leftovers of traditional British melodic AOR/hard rock, still smoldering in the incarnations of bands like Newman, Shadowman, Heartland,…. To this guitar-driven production, pushed right to the front, the guys add a subtle curtain of keyboards. They’re not just there to hold the atmosphere, but use bold instrumental tricks in the transitions that raise the dynamics while keeping the album’s flow impressively intact. Julian Nichols’ solos are often cut in a thoroughly classical style. The guitarist is incredibly fast, precise, and explosive, and his technical polish comes close to Y.J.Malmsteen. In the middle sections that classical touch takes center stage, and with the melodic lines trading back and forth with the keyboards there, Burn even come across a touch progressive. These instrumental parts make a striking contrast when you set them against the feverish fire led first and foremost by Ogden’s superb vocals, armed with thick riffs and (at times) Hammond’s added keyboard sound.
The songs are fast to mid-tempo, loaded with voltage and big atmosphere, but what counts most in all this is that they have thematic variety and melodic polish, peaking in masterfully crafted drama choruses. It’s hard to pick highlights, because every song is a little masterpiece in its own right. Worth singling out is the track Meltdown, where the excellent Jorn Lande joins Ogden on vocals. The choruses of Forgive Me and Weight Of Expectations, in all their bombastic outpouring, literally knock the listener flat. Pure perfection.
You won’t find filler or lazy ideas this time. This is one of the standout records on the world hard rock scene in 2007, the kind many bands would kill to make. So Burn are saddled up again, they’ve risen from the ashes, and now they’re ready to gallop and burn bright once more! Fantastic.
Lineup
Jeff Ogden – vocals
Julian Nicholas – guitar
Phil Hammond – guitar
Barney Stackhouse – keyboards
Marc Stackhouse – bass
Benyi Reid – drums
Production
Barney Stackhouse
Tracklist
1. Shadow of the Satellites
2. Dangerous Times
3. Forgive Me
4. Down in Flames
5. Meltdown
6. Made That Way
7. Pray for Rain
8. In Another Lifetime
9. Weight of Expectation
10. I Don’t Mind
11. Give Me Tonight
