Firenote – ‘Self Titled’ (IVK Music)
CD Reviews
Written by David Whistance
Tuesday, 27 October 2009 19:16
Turn back the music clock to circa 1987, and remember a time when grown men were sporting poodle perm hairstyles, and bands like Bon Jovi and Europe ruled the roost and stadium rock filled the airwaves.
Finish Melodic rockers Firenote are about to transport you back to that time, a much more innocent period, before the dawn of plaid shirts and dowdy cardigans dowsed in bottled odour of teen spirit threatened to destroy everything that was ever fun and crazy in rock music, and ushered in a new era of frankly miserable bastard musicians.
Firenote are about to take you to a world full of chorus filled anthems, heart breaking ballads and AOR stompers and I can promise you it’s all going to be pomptastic.
‘Firenote’ kicks off the album in an illustrious fashion, a massive Eighties style stadium rock number, so huge in its production values that if you closed your eyes you can imagine it playing in the fight sequences of an Eighties Tom Cruise blockbuster.
Quickly moving onto the single ‘Danger’, a catchy throwaway number in the vein of American hair metallers Danger Danger and Winger that would have received heavy rotation on MTV’s playlist back in the late Eighties. ‘Sara La Fountain’ meanwhile is a peculiar number written by the band about their devotion to Finnish TV celebrity chef Sara La Fountain that features a variety of suggestive lyrics, whilst their tongues remain firmly placed in their cheeks. Rumours that Cradle Of Filth once penned a similar number honouring their admiration for celebrity chef Anthony Worrall Thomson are yet to be confirmed.
Petrol Heads out there will love the quirky celebration of illegal motor racing featured in the adrenalin fuelled number ‘Speed Freak’. And then it’s time to put your cigarette lighters in the air and sing along to the glorious AOR stormer that is ‘Suddenly’. Love is definitely in the air as Firenote choose to celebrate it in abundance with ‘My Love Will Never Die’, ‘Don’t Ever Fall In Love’ and ‘Love Me Or Let Me Live’.
I couldn’t possibly finish the review without drawing attention to the final number ‘She Stole My Speedos’ – hmm… maybe Speedos means something different in Finland, I thought to myself, maybe it’s a term for motorbike, or maybe some ancient battle instrument…no, it is in fact a number written about lead vocalist Ricky’s favourite swimming trunks, you know the ones with the white stripes? Whether this particular swan song should have remained on the album or be kept for a future b-side is debatable, what I do know is, that for the remainder of the day I found myself singing along in my head to a song about the swimming attire usually favoured by corpulent European gentlemen.
In general I prefer my rock music to be a little heavier than Firenote but the debut would definitely sit fine in my CD collection. Anyone who attends the UK’s Firefest and Progfest festivals, and likes their music in the fast lane with the top down, will shoot their musical bolt at the sheer melodic wonder of this debut.