Brother Firetribe are the new sensation coming out of the land of prog metal, Finland – during 2006.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Brother Firetribe
ALBUM: False Metal
LABEL: Spinefarm Records
SERIAL: SPI266 CD
YEAR: 2006
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Finland
LINEUP: Pekka Ansio Heino – vocals * Erno ‘Emppu’ Vuorinen – guitars * Jason Flinck – bass, vocals * Tomppa Nikulainen – keyboards
TRACK LISTING: 01 Break Out * 02 Valerie * 03 I’m On Fire * 04 Love Goes Down * 05 Devils Daughter * 06 Midnite Queen * 07 One Single Breath * 08 Lover Tonite * 09 Spanish Eyes * 10 Kill City Kid
RATING: 95/100
WEBLINK: Site Link
Background
Brother Firetribe are the new sensation coming out of the land of prog metal, Finland – during 2006. A look through the personnel listing will see the name Empuu Vuorinen, fresh from the leading band Nightwish.
After all the upheavals going on in their camp, Vuorinen has since assembled a line-up that resurrects the glory-days of majestic pomp and melodic rock. It’s hard to believe that this band had the cheek to release an album like this on Finland’s premier metal label Spinefarm, but with Vuorinen’s influence that’s exactly what happened.
And don’tcha just love the album title? Manowar fans might think this is a cheeky and cheesy attempt at subterfuge, but thankfully the music is a million miles away from the antics of De Maio and Adams, so no worries there.
So anyway, where the heck did Vuorinen find Pekka Ansio Heino? This guy is a star in the making, a sensational voice, in the mould of Thomas Vikstrom. Let’s not forget the keyboard work of Tomppa Nikulainen who tinkles ivories with the same appreciation of those synth-meisters from a decade or two ago.
Also great to hear Empuu away from the operatic environment of Nightwish into something much more mainstream. It’s pretty hard to pin this lot down musically.
My closest approximation would be a band like Tour De Force (USA); displaying controlled aggression and power amid the harmony. A while back I did hear through the grapevine that Vuorinen was working on a melodic rock project, and this folks is the end result.
The Songs
The album opens up with ‘Break Out’, and takes a good minute to get the engine revved up. And when Brother Firetribe get all the cylinders going, the chorus is tremendous! A flurry of keyboard effects all adds to the busy mix.
The melodies floweth over on ‘Valerie’, their style of pomp bordering on bombastic. Blaring sirens open up the account on ‘I’m On Fire’, with Nikulainen taking over with his keyboards after a few bars, the keyboard power chords should strike a note with all you ivory-lovers.
BFT go acoustic with ‘Love Goes Down’, a brief respite before the positively dangerous ‘Devils Daughter’ lays all of its wicked charms upon your aural senses. Keeping it in the feminine ranks, ‘Midnite Queen’ high-steps it all over the audio spectrum, the song containing a great sing-along chorus for all you concert-goers to practice.
Keyboard fans should get a load of ‘One Single Breath’, one could come to the conclusion that Robby Valentine and Zinatra had turned up for rehearsals! ‘Lover Tonite’ is one of the albums best moment, the lyrics talk of howling wolves, fever burning, stalking prey. Wow if this is supposed to be a love song I better start running for the hills!
‘Spanish Eyes’ is another mid-tempo respite followed by the finale ‘Kill City Kid’, which takes on a Guild Of Ages stance, though the keyboards make this song more melodic than even GOA could’ve delivered.
In Summary
Suddenly 2006 got a whole lot more interesting with this release. Am I reading too much into this? Probably.
In much the same way as Presto Ballet showed metal guitarist Kurt Vanderhoof in a new light away from his day-job in Metal Church with their ‘Peace Among The Ruins’ debut last year, Vuorinen is following a similar path. What will we see next? Ozzy Osbourne doing country and western?
A must-have release, Brother Firetribe and ‘False Metal’ are a contender for Top 10 albums of 2006 – without a doubt. Buy the CD and hear what all the fuss is about.
Brother Firetribe on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
