VON HERTZEN BROTHERS - NEW DAY RISING (2015 ALBUM REVIEW)

Have you ever heard of the Von Hertzen Brothers? If not, they are a Finnish band comprised of three brothers, Kie Von Hertzen on guitar/vocals, Mikko Von Hertzen on vocals/guitar and bassist/vocalist Jonne Von Hertzen. There are two permanent members that aren't brothers, Mikko Kaakkuriniemi on drums and Juha Kuoppala on keyboards. The band was formed in 2000 and New Day Rising, their latest release, is their sixth studio album. Wikipedia describes the band as a mix of classic rock, prog, folk, punk and contemporary rock. Sounds good to me.

Now that you are formally familiar with the band, I'm gonna review the album. First off, I dig the album cover that you see above. The cd comes in a nice jewel case and does include a booklet with lyrics. And what's better, the printing is large enough that an old geezer like me can actually read the lyrics pretty easily with my reading glasses. And taking a quick glance at the track listing, there are ten songs. Perfect.

The album opener and title track is a high intensity, muscular lead track. I hear a U2 sounding riff that echoes around the track. I've included the video for the song below. Next up is a killer track. You Don't Know My Name is very aggressive and should be in an action flick. It's one of my favorites on the disc and the bass, especially at the beginning, is total badass. Trouble slows the pace up but keeps it really heavy. The slow tempo continues on Black Rain, but this is more of a soft, ballad type song. The lyrics are about addiction and the electric guitar that runs through the track is simple but effective while the soaring lead guitar that is played under the vocals gives the song an epic feel. Hold Me Up closes out the first half of the album. It's the third straight slow song, which is really my biggest gripe with this band. Their faster songs are always really cool, but also seem to be outnumbered by the slower tunes.

Love Burns keeps the plodding pace, but I do like the song a good bit. And it leads to Dreams, which is my favorite song on the album. The song is just so upbeat and fun. With a great lyric like "I'd like to see you naked, before I get old", it's just so damn infectious. It's followed by Sunday Child, which has a terrific lead riff and lead guitar playing in general. Yet another song that feels epic. Of the final two tracks, The Destitute and Hibernating Heart, neither stands out, but neither venture anywhere close to filler-ville.

The album overall is really quite good. The vocalist reminds me of Gary Cherone with an accent (an accent that at times makes it quite difficult to understand the lyrics). New Day Rising is a well built album despite the plodding pace at times. When the lead guitar is present, it really adds to the development of the song, giving many of them a grand, epic feel. Personally, I think this album is much more interesting than the band's previous effort.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Track Listing:

1. New Day Rising

2. You Don't Know My Name

3. Trouble

4. Black Rain

5. Hold Me Up

6. Love Burns

7. Dreams

8. Sunday Child

9. The Destitute

10. Hibernating Heart