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'Burned Down the
Enemy' is the third release from Finish metallers Burning Point and the
bands debut on new label Metal Heaven. It finds the band bringing
forth an altogether heavier sound than their two previous albums.
Although the album isn’t all full on metal as the title may suggest, but
is an intricate mix of varying styles whilest still retaining that metal
essence.
Things get under way with the guitar
driver 'Parasite', a real barnstormer of an opener that immediately
highlights the great vocal talents of Pete Ahonen, backed up by some
fantastic fret work by both Ahonen and Pekka Kolivuori.
The album takes on a more melodic hard
rock tone with one of my favourite tracks off the album ‘Heart Of Gold’.
This is a slow burner of a track that gently unfolds into a flurry of
guitar, bass and keyboards, with Ahonen giving a spellbinding vocal
performance throughout.
The album mixes some fantastic guitar
work by Ahonen and Kolivuori with some great keyboards from Jussi Ontero,
with an almost Powermetal feel to them, none more so than on the wonderful
‘Dawn Of The Ancient War’.
The band shows their heavier side with
pounding metal assault of ‘Hell Awaits’ before switching things again and
returning to the more hard rock side with the almost ballad like ‘From The
Beginning of It All’.
Another one of those Powermetal style
tracks is the massive ‘Icebound’, a great track where once again it’s the
might of Ahonen’s vocals that really shine and mixed with some great
keyboard and guitar sections, all go to make this a real monster of a
track.
The tempo is picked up once more with the
rampaging kick drum and guitar fest that is ‘Deceiver’ and the highly
charged offering ‘To Hell And Back’. These two fast paced rockers
are split by another great metal track ‘Eye For An Eye’.
But the all out tracks on the album for
me has to be the excellent metal masterpieces ‘Against The Madness of
Time’, and the album closer and title track ‘Burned Down The Enemy’, both
tracks are simply fantastic and round off what has to be the bands finest
hour. |
