{"id":40376,"date":"2014-05-06T18:05:24","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T23:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=40376"},"modified":"2014-05-06T18:05:24","modified_gmt":"2014-05-06T23:05:24","slug":"brother-firetribe-diamond-in-the-firepit-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/brother-firetribe-diamond-in-the-firepit-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Brother Firetribe | Diamond In The Firepit<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"BrotherIf thinking about a contemporary band that embodies the term \u201cpomp rock\u201d in the strict sense of the word, the Finnish melodic rock act Brother Firetribe is one of the first that come to mind. What\u2019s been started as one of many side-projects of the Nightwish guitarist Erno \u201cEmppu\u201d Vuorinen alongside Altaria or Almah, is now a favorite of many melodic rock aficionados. Blending melody and powerful sound together is what they\u2019re the best at \u2013 an undisputed fact proven by their two previous releases, 2006 False Metal<\/em> (reissued as Break Out) and 2008 Heart Full Of Fire<\/em>. Also with their newest and largely anticipated album, entitled Diamond In The Firepit<\/em>, they\u2019re not about to get off the track. <\/p>\n

Diamond In The Firepit<\/em> took about six years to be completed and released \u2013 was the wait worth it? To answer the question, check out the song that opens the album, \u201cLove\u2019s Not Enough.\u201d Tinkly keyboards, groovy guitar riffs, vocal harmony and, the most of all, the overwhelmingly infectious melody of the huge chorus \u2026 yes, all this you can put a tick against here. And yet, this is just the beginning. <\/p>\n

\u201cFar Away from Love\u201d is an AOR keyboard-driven killer with a lot of instrumental wizardry of the band\u2019s keyboard player Tomppa Nikulainen, while in \u201cFor Better Or For Worse,\u201d chosen to be the first promotional single off the album, it\u2019s rather the groovy guitar against the massive, powerful chorus that does more of the talking. The group chant that opens the brilliant \u201cEdge Of Forever\u201d bears a slight resemblance to Reckless Love\u2019s \u201cNight On Fire\u201d \u2013 minus the cheesy tribal war paint, thank God. \u201cTrail Of Tears,\u201d in spite of its title suggesting rather a schmaltzy power ballad (or, perhaps, the Native Americans-related historical comment both White Lion and Europe have previously made in their songs), turns out to be an upbeat, powerful track with some equilibristic lead guitar work. <\/p>\n

Apart from a few charming, mellower mid-tempos (\u201cDesperately\u201d, \u201cHanging By A Tread\u201d and the final \u201cClose To The Bone\u201d) and another few straightforward keyboard-driven rockers (\u201cTired Of Dreaming\u201d, \u201cReality Bites\u201d), the definite icing on the cake is the ninth track on the album. Known from their stellar versions of Cheap Trick\u2019s \u201cMighty Wings\u201d and Mike Reno\u2019s \u201cChasing The Angels\u201d (both as close to the ideal of the untouchable original versions as possible), Brother Firetribe this time decide on delivering yet another \u201880s soundtrack classic. <\/p>\n

If you think of 1987 dramatic movie Over The Top<\/em> starring Sylvester Stallone, the first thing you\u2019d come up with is either the main character\u2019s trademark arm wrestling scenes or the soundtrack to the movie. Predictably, it\u2019s Sammy Hagar\u2019s \u201cWinner Takes It All\u201d we are talking about here. Brother Firetribe\u2019s rendition of this track is something that would certainly make The Red Rocker proud \u2013 it\u2019s another proof of not only their ability to make brilliant cover versions, but also, the albums as brilliant as their third one.<\/p>\n

The only weak point of Diamond In The Firepit<\/em> would be, perhaps, the fact that it doesn\u2019t surprise neither the band\u2019s followers, nor opponents. Speaking shortly, it\u2019s nothing new, but at the same time exactly what you could expect from the Finnish melodic rockers. And again, if you dug what they did on False Metal<\/em> or Heart Full Of Fire<\/em>, you\u2019re gonna love this one. Big, powerful choruses, \u201880s style \u201cwall of sound\u201d vocals, massive synthesizer melodies, rich guitar work and pulsing rhythm \u2013 and each song on the album being a melodic rock anthem on its own \u2013 it\u2019s what makes Diamond In The Firepit<\/em> a real diamond among contemporary rock albums released this year. Much recommended.<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Hard Rock, AOR<\/p>\n

Band:
\nVocals – Pekka Ansio Heino
\nGuitars – Emppu Vuorinen
\nKeyboards – Tomi Nikulainen
\nBass\/Backing vocals – Jason Flinck
\nDrums – Kalle Torniainen<\/p>\n

Track List:
\n01. Intro
\n02. Love’s Not Enough
\n03. Far Away From Love
\n04. For Better Or For Worse
\n05. Desperately
\n06. Edge Of Forever
\n07. Hanging By A Thread
\n08. Trail Of Tears
\n09. Winner Takes It All
\n10. Tired Of Dreaming
\n11. Reality Bites
\n12. Close To The Bone<\/p>\n

Label: Spinefarm Records<\/p>\n

Website:
\nhttp:\/\/www.brotherfiretribe.com\/<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/brotherfiretribeofficial<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Columnist — If thinking about a contemporary band that embodies the term \u201cpomp rock\u201d in the strict sense of the word, the Finnish melodic rock act Brother Firetribe is one of […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8939,9016,2317,9017,2847,9269,3875],"class_list":{"0":"post-40376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-aor","9":"tag-brother-firetribe","10":"tag-cd-review","11":"tag-diamond-in-the-firepit","12":"tag-melodic-hard-rock","13":"tag-pekka-ansio-heino","14":"tag-spinefarm-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}