Metal Wednesdays: 27th August 2008

Ok, ok; so it's Thursday. But you know how it is; I totally meant to post this yesterday but my girlfriend made me breakfast in bed, then we went to the cinema, and there was this Spanish bar having happy hour and cocktails were drunk... You get the picture. So here, in all its glory, I present The Post I Should Have Posted Yesterday:

Happy Wednesday homies! Welcome to the latest installment of our Metal Wednesday's series, and today we're talking about those sexy Finnish boys, Northern Kings.

Mentioned in the previous Metal Wednesday post, Northern Kings is something of a Euro-metal supergroup, formed from the diaspora of bands Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, Charon and Teräsbetoni.

As you should be aware by now, I have more than a little fond spot for Marco Hietala of Nightwish fame so for me the album was a bit of a must-have. My girlfriend is also a mahussive Sonata Arctica fan; check them out, they're actually pretty awesome, and minus an odd obsession lead singer Tony Kakko (featured magnificently as a quarter of Northern Kings has with a mysterious girl called 'Dana', the band do achieve moments of greatness that bear more than a slight resemblance to early Sabbath or Iron Maiden. The long and short of this is; I like Northern Kings. In fact, for cheesy metal covers of mostly 80's songs (uh-oh, I didn't mention that's what it is, did I?), the album, Reborn, is infinitely listenable, and infinitely surprising.

While ironic cover-versions have been somewhat killed in the last few years, there's still enough fresh interpretation (and genuine, non-ironic love for the chosen tracks) on this album to get you to track 13. I will admit, however, to a dip in concentration during the middle of the album, with cheese-fests like I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight and the ghastly Phil Collins' dreariness that is In the Air Tonight providing little to enthuse over. Stick with it, though; final track Brothers In Arms is a joyous affair for what is actually quite a sad Dire Straits original, riotously affirming the damn good fun these guys must have had with Reborn, and the fun you're going to get if you grab a copy.

Enough of all that nonsense, here's a couple of tracks:

Northern Kings - We Don't Need Another Hero
Northern Kings - Don't Stop Believin'

As always, these songs are for sample only; please be kind and go buy the CD: Reborn by Northern Kings

Metal Wednesdays: 13th August 2008

A while back, before my girlfriend and I had moved house three times in 6 months, before our kitten could talk (stay with me on this) and long before Believer magazine published a very informative article on black metal, the idea of 'Metal Wednesdays' was thrown around. This idea never really came to fruition until this afternoon, when sat at my desk surrounded by boxes of unpacked belongings, the strains of a highly miserable country ballad poured through our walls from the eccentric Frenchman upstairs. My friends, it is time.

Symphonic, or 'operatic' metal will be our first port of call this series, mostly to give me an opportunity to voice my opinion on the great Anette vs. Tarja Nightwish debate.

Oh, Nightwish. How I have loved thee. Formed in 1996 in wintry Finland, it took me a full 11 years to actually like Nightwish, and by this point the band had cast long-suffering soprano Tarja Turunen into solo-record oblivion. For me, this major league sucked, because it wasn't until I was idling my days away at the porn emporium, ipod on shuffle, that the moody, melodic Sleeping Sun crept into my earphones, awaking me from over a decade of ignorance and forming a lifelong (let's assume) love for power metal coupled with opera that knows no bounds. Or, knew no bounds. This was before Anette.

In October 2005, after a concert in Helsinki widely regarded as a triumph, the band presented Tarja with an open letter asking her to leave the band, effectively blaming her general 'Diva-ish ways' for the split. Thus began a frenetic search for a replacement singer which ended in Sweden, with the slight, pop-ish Anette Olzon. We saw the newly formed band play their latest album Dark Passion Play at the soon to be bulldozed Astoria in London in March this year and despite a splattering of old tunes getting the crowd excited, I am reliably informed by my expert girlfriend that the atmosphere was most definitely lacking. Anette is different to Tarja in every way; her vocals are high pitched but lack the timbre of Tarja's rich operatic voice. Her stage presence is slightly awkward but not in Tarja's endearing shy manner. She is a bit, well, Abba-ish.

My main gripe with the band, however, is that in my opinion, they didn't need to replace Tarja at all. Having become accomplished musicians, and helmed by the mysterious and probably a bit crazy lyricist and orchestrator Tuomas Holopainen, the band was well-loved and respected in its class. With the growling, Viking-esque Marco Hietala as bassist and vocalist, the band had a perfectly capable frontman (as is more than demonstrated by Hietala's work with Northern Kings). But alas, who are we to judge? If you ask me, Turunen was a fantastic presence to the band, and her departure has changed Nightwish fairly insurmountably. Anette, well, she hasn't really added anything besides a pop overture to the band's overall sound. Marco, he's a sexy beast and still going strong at 42. I leave you with three songs; the fantastic "She is My Sin" with Tarja Turunen on lead vocals, the poppy but fun "The Escapist" from latest album Dark Passion Play (fronted by Anette) and lastly the dark and sombre "While your lips are still Red", tenderly performed by Marco Hietala.

She is My Sin
The Escapist
While Your Lips are Still Red

P.S. As always, if you like what you hear, go buy the vast back catalogue or at least get Once It's totally freaking awesome.