Northern Kings - Reborn and Rethroned

When I read about Northern Kings on Last.fm I was flabbergasted.  A finnish symphonic metal cover supergroup made up of 4 supreme metal front men: Jarkko Ahola (Teräsbetoni), Marco Hietala (Nightwish and Tarot), Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica) and Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto (Charon).  To be honest it sounded too good to not investigate further.  A quick search in Spotify and I was listening to their 2007 debut album Reborn.

As already established frontmen of very successful metal bands what else could Northern Kings possible come up with but pop classics of the 70's, 80's and 90's transformed into symphonic, almost theatrical, metal versions?

Reborn is indeed an odd collection of tracks at first glance.  It really shouldn't work but it does and it does it so well.  We Don't Need Another Hero, Sledgehammer, In the Air Tonight and Hello are all tracks that literally left me open mouthed.  All magically mixed to sound just like the original while not sounding anything like it at all.

In 2008 they released Rethroned, another mental selection of the finest pop offerings from the last 30 years.  Kiss From a Rose, Nothing Compares 2 U, My Way, Take on Me and Killer are particularly impressive.  I feel I have to mention the I Should Be So Lucky cover which really didn't work for me at all.  Shame really because there is video evidence somewhere in my family archive of me covering the same song aged 11.  I would have loved to have been blown away by their version.

They are working on new material, but no announcements have been made about a release in the near future.  I really can't wait to see what pop classics will appear on another album if they do decide to release one.  I am hoping for a more impressive Kylie cover, perhaps some Take That and without a doubt they need to do a Madonna track.

I read a review recently which described Northern Kings perfectly in just 2 words.  I really couldn't summarise them any better - “Karaoke Metal”.  But please bear in mind that it's not just any Karaoke Metal – it's the finest Karaoke Metal I am sure you will ever hear.