Most people know Emppu Vuorinen as the guitar player from Nightwish, but I don’t think a lot of you out there know that he also has a band of his very own. With Brother Firetribe he’s already released two albums - False Metal (2006) and Heart Full Of Fire (2008). This was good enough to go out on a European tour with Pain from Sweden in February 2009. How they managed on the road and what kind of countries they visited can be seen on the tour documentary which is a bonus feature on their first DVD, Live At Apollo. On this 30 minutes long road movie we can enjoy a lot of the humorous moments. But these are not the most important parts on this DVD. A well-shot live performance at the capitol of Finland is the main course on this disc. The Apollo Club is a nice looking theatre in Helsinki where we can hear and see 14 tracks which were filmed rather tightly with enough close ups of the musicians. The band is in good shape and the audience likes the music they performed a lot. This kind of music made by Brother Firetribe reminded me of a number of bands such as Magnum, Europe and Bon Jovi. Most of all, the parts that had me thinking of Magnum I enjoyed a lot. Too bad the lyrics and song titles for most of the time about the usual rock clichés. The songs are not too complex and easy to sing-along with, but that does not mean that the readers here at Background will not enjoy this kind of music. The keyboards sound very tasteful, and from time to time Emppu treats us to a very melodic guitar solo or riff. He seems to get more room with this band to show that he can play an excellent solo as he can in Nightwish. The music we hear during this fine performance will certainly not be comparable to that well known gothic band. Most of the tunes are up-tempo AOR rock songs except for the track Play It From The Heart. This is a very sensitive ballad. The band wrote almost all of their songs themselves, with the well known track by Mike Reno, Chasing The Angels also being included in this set. And a very special guest was also made welcome during the song Heart Full Of Fire. It’s fellow band member Mr. Vuorinen from Nightwish. The person that replaced Tarja Turunen namely Anette Olzon contributed together with lead singer Pekka Ansio Heino which worked out very well. For anyone who hasn’t the time to watch this well-made DVD, the band’s record label has simultaneously released the whole concert as an audio CD. This time it’s not in 5.1 surround or in DTS, but none-the-less still worth listening too. This live album is certainly a must for those who like this kind of music. The extra live pictures are a fine extra on the audio release which we won’t see on the DVD release. Instead the DVD had an extra photo gallery with shots of the band on and off stage. I should also mention that a video from the track One Single Breath is added as a last bonus feature. All we see is a band in action on a stage miming along with the music. Live At Apollo is recommended to everybody who likes the AOR type of music made by acts such as Magnum, Bon Jovi or Europe. *** Henri Strik (edited by Paul Watson) Where to buy? |
