(Symphonic Power Metal) [CD] Northern Kings - Rethroned (Japanese Edition) - 2008, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Finnish supergroup second album is one I can't get enough of it. A great selection of songs, an incredible prodcution and great musicianship makes this one of the best cover album ever. The first cover album was a nice experiment, but with Rethroned the band goes one step further. Instead of just presenting the original songs with a metal sound, they actually improve (mostly) upon most songs, bringing them to new heights. Amazing vocals, great guitars and a production worthy of a Nightwish album, that is what awaits you with Rethroned.

The album starts with a cover of Vince DiCola's Rocky IV training montage. I just love this instrumental tune, and having it with electric guitars and great orchestra arrangements is a real delight. At first listen it doesn't seem like it's much of an improvement but the guitars definitely add something to the overall song. The next song is Wanted Dead of Alive by Bon Jovi, another instant hit cover. The song is metalized and has so much more panache than the original. Then it's time for Kiss From A Rose (Seal), followed by Nothing Compare 2 U (Sinead O'Connor) with a power ballad treatment, great vocals by Tony Kakko. Then it's the turn for a Duran Duran cover, A View to A Kill, that has great riffing and as always in this album amazing arrangements that not only give the songs great production values but actually bring them a step further than the original. The sixth song is a real tour-de-force, as who would think you can make a metal cover of a Frank Sinatra song ? No really, who could do that ? Well Northern Kings can, and all I can say is Oh My God ! To hear the strong heavy metal riff during the verse of the songs is pure pleasure. It's also very cool to be able to listen to songs I would never put in my CD player, and this is a perfect example (though most of these songs I would never listen in their original form while I'm more than happy with their metal covers). I won't detail all other songs, but I will list them now: Strangelove (Depeche Mode), Take on Me (A-Ha), I Should Be So Lucky (K. Minogue), Killer (Adamski featuring Seal) and Roisin Dubh (Black Rose). The album is almost perfect, even though I don't care much about the closer, it is still nice, but there is one song I don't understand here : You Should Be So Lucky, which interpretation baffles me, as this is a happy fast paced song transformed into a scary (think horror movies), experimental and highly sad toned song... maybe the band wanted to make something special of it, but I must admit I usually skip the track altogether. But maybe it may be fun to listen to it once, I still think it destabilizes the awesomeness the album had shown until then. The last few seconds of the song, when it kinda accelerates to almost speed metal speed is fun somehow, but the rest of the song is mostly unbearable unfortunately .

So beside Kylie Minogue's butchery of a cover (in my humble my opinion), I find Rethroned to be a pure jewel of cover work. Not only does the supergroup bring these songs to life infusing metal into them, there is actually a great production put into them, with incredible orchestrations and amazing vocals. They definitely improve most of the original material and make it a real pleasure to listen to over and over again. Probably my favorite cover album.

Review written by Chris for www.metalreviews.com

Marco Hietala - Vocals
Jarkko Ahola - Vocals
Tony Kakko - Vocals
JP Leppaluoto - Vocals

Erkka Korhonen - Guitars
Vili Ollila - Keyboards
Erkki Silvennoinen - Bass
Mirka Rantanen - Drums
Mikko P. Mustonen - Orchestrations