Amberian Dawn – Innuendo


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While it may be harsh to put it so bluntly, Finnish metal act Amberian Dawn, to all intents and purposes, spent the first four albums of their recorded lives fannying around with varying levels of success playing pretty generic symphonic metal with all the requisite frippery. Though competent, they walked in Nightwish’s long shadow.

Yet last year, seeds of individuality began to truly blossom, as, with the induction of new vocalist, pop artist Capri, their enchanting fifth album Magic Forest (Napalm) brought together the symphonic, the musicale and the downright ABBA. An endearing album, it serves as the power metal equivalent of the Disney film Enchanted, a mix of fairy tales and mild peril interwoven with upbeat earworms that saw Amberian Dawn begin to truly define themselves for the first time.

Facing that all too prevalent a dilemma, to stick or twist, to super-size the formula, or take a darker turn on it, Amberian Dawn have chosen to return to their previous, more “serious”, musical theatre roots; leaving the joyful jigs and uplifting arias behind, symbolized on the album cover by the moon overlapping the sun. As they embrace the more considered approach of the likes of Kamelot it’s hard not to feel a sense of disappointment as they dive back once again into a pool filled with similar fish, no longer mermaid or something a little sparkly or different; baby, or at least childish individuality, particularly during drab synth-overloaded ballad ‘Angelique’, pretty much discarded along with the bathwater.

Innuendo (Napalm) is, though, expertly constructed “serious” power metal, with Dark Passion Play (Spinefarm/Nuclear Blast/Roadrunner), a strong reference point. But that sense of cheekiness, naïvety and fun has been replaced, like the child who acts much older than their years, by interring the one thing they should treasure most. The strong ABBA influences they’ve tried hard to bury are allowed only on track eight, ‘Knock Knock, Who’s There’, to escape the restraints of the rest of the albums cloying maturity to play freely.

Never growing up didn’t do Peter Pan any harm…

 

6.0/10

STEVE TOVEY


Spitfire – Fuel To Burn


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Norwegian rockers Spitfire are back with their second full-length album, entitled Fuel to Burn (Indie Distro). Describing themselves as “high power and performance, just like the famous fighter”, this album definitely proves that statement wrong. If you were expecting fast-paced and furious riffs then you were definitely misinformed as Spitfire are another so-called ‘70s’ classic rock band, with more innuendos than you can… shake a stick at. Sigh.

Opening track ‘Fuel to Burn’ starts off with an impressive bassline which you think may lead into something exciting, however, once the lyrics kick in it is easy to see that it is not going to go anywhere. The repetition of ‘come on baby, light my fire’ is easily reminiscent of a Take That song, and it is safe to say that whoever writes the lyrics is definitely obsessed with cheesy sex references; ‘Friday night in my home town, looking for a girl. Got a rocket in my pocket, welcome to my world’ and ‘Let me see those long legs honey, wrapped around the stick’. It’s enough to make any girl, feminist or not, shudder, but if you are into Steel Panther style innuendos and cheesy rock music then you would definitely love this song.

‘Dogfight’ sounds almost like an early Bullet For My Valentine song, with added sexual innuendos. It’s hard to take a band serious when they talk about ‘jerking back’ their ‘stick’. Spitfire are an extremely confusing band to listen to, as you are unsure whether they are deliberately trying to be a comical band or if it is just coincidental.

Haunting riffs and lyrics greet you in ‘Far Away’, which is possibly one of the most interesting tracks on the album. Steering clear from the cheesiness, Spitfire prove that they can actually create a catchy and exciting song, rather than sticking to immature and silly innuendos. The vocals are impressive and the guitar solos are both technical and unique.

Final track ‘Down’ is hard-hitting and heavy, definitely making an instant impression on you.

It’s difficult to understand why they did not open the album with this track, as it is much more exciting and well-written than the sexually charged nonsense at the beginning. There are some definite hits merged in amongst the comedic songs, however, if you have never listened to Spitfire before then you will not know whether they are deliberately trying to be comical or not… Even after several listens I still have no idea.

 

3.0/10

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JULIA CONOPO