NEW ALBUM: VON HERTZEN BROTHERS ~ Red Alert in the Blue Forest

[Ruby]

VON HERTZEN BROTHERS ~ Red Alert in the Blue Forest

Listened to this one with a little trepidation, expecting some hectic Finnish metal and was somewhat surprised. Shrinking violets they are not – definitely front and centre, however, there’s some lovely lyrical stuff on this album, beautiful harmonies and orchestration that harks back to the 70's (for me), and some stonking rock too - I can handle a bit of noise from time to time, provided it makes sense, somehow! The concept centres around matters environmental and reflects their deep love of and respect for nature. Yes – they do indulge the propensity of the far north for big and loud, but they intersperse that with restrained pieces too, and the boys can play, for sure. Some quite fab arrangements IMHO – never ceases to amaze me the depth that strings can infuse into the big picture, cello and violin especially. They make use of acoustic guitar a bit - noticeably so – horns are great too. And they are ably helped out by additional personnel – line-up as follows:

- Mikko von Hertzen / lead vocals, guitar
- Kie von Hertzen / guitar, vocals
- Jonne von Hertzen / bass, vocals
- Robert Engstrand / keyboards
- Sami Kuoppamäki / drums
 
Additional musicians:
- Max Lilja / cello
- Klaara Pyrhönen / violin
- Janne Toivonen / trumpet
- Tero Toivonen / French horn
- Juho Viljanen / trombone
 
I went and investigated their website and found that they have created something wonderful to go with this release. From their site … https://www.vonhertzenbrothers.com/the-blue-forest/
 
The Blue Forest project is a combination of music, art and nature conservation!
 
Twelve renowned Finnish artists have donated paintings inspired by tracks on Von Hertzen Brothers’ new album, Red Alert in the Blue Forest.  These music-inspired works will be sold in an online auction to protect a forest area in Southern Finland.
 
I do not like all the artworks – in fact maybe only a couple - No 1 is intriguing - "Day of Reckoning" and well drawn - as for three, not sure I could have taken a photo in that proximity to a stupendously large bear! Think my favourite would be the second, painted for “Blue Forest”, but I absolutely love the idea – think it’s great. Lastly, bearing in mind this is second language for them, they’ve done an excellent job – hugely more articulate than the vast majority of English first language new releases out there today, I’d say. I think I could get well acquainted with this album … there's some meat on the bones ...

I posted the single previously "All of a Sudden You're Gone" and I couldn't find a pic of the cover but it appears here in the link anyway ... 

[CRAZY-HORSE]

that linked track sounds familiar, not the song itself but the sound especially the vocal quality...Moody Blues maybe???

[Ruby]

^Maybe - in some places ...  that's what I thought as well - an elusive sounds like.

Here's another interesting clip - they used the actual sounds of the Northern Lights in the song of the same name and this explains how, and the provenance of them. Love the use of the sounds of earth (and ether, in this instance!) in music ... not crazy about the whole song, but hey - perhaps it'll grow on me ...

[CRAZY-HORSE]

i half expected the sound of the "lights" to be more of a 'hum' for no other reason than they look like they hum???
i dont know!