BROTHER FIRETRIBE: Sunbound (A.O.R.): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

After three opuses that allowed them to assert his identity, Brother Firetribe comes back only three years after "Diamond In The Firepit", confirming that the band has become a full-fledged band for its members. With a stable line-up, it is now clear that the quintet is no longer a simple side project but a combo that traces its path by respecting certain bases while regularly adding some evolutions that allow it not to become sterile. Mixed by Mikko Karmila (Nightwish, Stratovarius, Children Of Bodom), "Sunbound" is coming on our playlists to confirm the position of leader of the Finns in the AOR field.

For this new discographic offering, the band records its first move with the arrival of Hannes Pirila on drums instead of Kalle Torniainen. This line-up change could be considered as the main evolution within the formula proposed by Brother Firetribe, this one remaining anchored in an AOR combining with talent melody and energy. However, with its prominent keyboards and its trigged drums in the heart of a particularly typical production, the immersion in the 80s is even more obvious than on the previous opuses. Listening to some tracks sometimes gives the feeling of having boarded the DeLorean from Back to the Future ('Heart Of The Matter' and its pop-FM as cheap as endearing). Nuggets such as 'Strangled' or 'Restless Heart' would probably have ignited the stadiums in the golden era of Journey, Foreigner and other Survivor. The choruses are catchy and hyper effective, recurring qualities throughout the listening of the 11 tracks of the original version, to which we must add the eponymous track opening the festivities in instrumental and grandiloquent mode.

Unless you want to play the gloomy spirits, it is easy to be bewitched by this succession of melodic pieces on which Pekka Ansio Heino shows a real investment. The singer has put himself at the level of his fellow players and brings an extra energy to tracks that were already enough on their own. Sometimes pressing on the gas pedal ('Help Is On The Way', 'Give Me Tonight') or on the contrary, lifting the foot the time of a vaporous mid-tempo ('Shock'), the quintet knows how to vary the pleasures while keeping a sound signature to an ensemble of which are part the soli of Emppu Vuorinen who benefits from more space for this exercise than within Nightwish. While "Diamond In The Firepit" suffered from a lack of immediate tracks with the profile of hits in power, "Sunbound" avoids this drawback with a unifying 'Indelible Heroes' with a marked tempo and an unstoppable chorus, which is the occasion to pay tribute to Lemmy Kilmister. Remastered after having been used as a soundtrack for a Finnish movie, 'Taste Of A Champion' also has an anthemic profile, while 'Phantasmagoria' closes the set in a more majestic and orchestral atmosphere, with a rise in power which lets predict other evolutions for the follow-up.

Once again, Brother Firetribe manages to bring just the right amount of evolution to their music to allow their new album to have its own identity while keeping a trademark forged over 10 years. The killjoys will not fail to mock the outdated approach of this opus, but they will forget all its qualities and its variety and will skip some choruses which are worth continuing to hum for several days. The Finns don't take themselves too seriously, but they do their job with enough seriousness to keep their credibility and efficiency unfailing. - Official website

BROTHER FIRETRIBE

SUNBOUND

SPINEFARM RECORDS

A.O.R.