When you read this blog chances are that you despise acts like Dire Straits and Lionel Richie. OK, but what about if four Finnish metal singers calling themselves the Northern Kings team up to create a symphonic heavy rock album on which they cover songs by those two unmentionables? And it doesn't stop there. Consider the despicable Don't Bring Me Down (ELO), Journey's Don't Stop Believin' and even Phil Collins (albeit with his great break-up song In The Air Tonight). You wouldn't want to touch an album like that with a ten-foot pole, would you?
Trouble is: it works. Those four Finnish dudes deconstructed and rebuild the originals without mercy and Reborn is, well, a rejuvenation of songs that made the eighties such a dreaded decade. You know the songs, you hate songs at times, but now you can listen to the songs without having to fight down your lunch. Best track: a slowed down take on Billy Idol's Rebel Yell with sounds like a Iron Butterfly gig in a cathedral. To proof that they look for material outside the mainstream they picked Radiohead's Creep -- a tough call, but they get away with it and that is fucking special indeed. They were a huge success in Finland and now they are ready for the rest of world, starting off with the UK where Reborn will be released June 16th.
Northern Kings:
Marco Hietala (Nightwish, Tarot)
Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica)
JP Leppäluoto (Charon)
J. Ahola (Teräsbetoni)
Reborn is released on Warner Bros.
Tracks:- Don't Stop Believin'
- We Don't Need Another Hero
- Broken Wings
- Rebel Yell
- Ashes To Ashes
- Fallen On Hard Times
- I Just Died In Your Arms
- Sledgehammer
- Don't Bring Me Down
- In The Air Tonight
- Creep
- Hello
- Brothers In Arms
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