BURNING POINT

Burning Point are a five piece from Oulu in Finland, consisting of a vocalist/guitarist, another guitarist, bassist, drummer and keyboard player. They formed in 1999 and have released two albums prior to ‘Empyre’ but contractual wrangles and line up changes have meant that their growth has not been as rapid as the band might have liked. The album starts with a slightly dodgy intro of the ‘Godfather’ theme played on what sounds like a musical jewellery box but this soon develops into a metal version of the same piece. The album begins properly with the title track, which is played at a fast pace, verging on thrash. Next up is ‘Manic Merry-Go-Round’ which, despite the rather bizarre title, is a storming track, featuring some premium riffage and some pleasantly melodic vocals by Pete Ahonen. The next track, ‘Face The Truth’, features vocals in the vein of Rob Halford and is one of only a couple of tracks where the keyboards truly make their presence felt, the other being ‘Blinded by the Darkness’ which has a keyboard sound that is slightly reminiscent of the keyboards on Maiden’s ‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’. It has to be said that the quality of tracks on this album is consistently good, with highlights being the aforementioned ‘Manic Merry-Go-Round’, ‘Fool’s Parade’ and ‘Was it Me’ which has a slower tempo, features some good acoustic guitar work and is almost balladic in style. The album, although self produced, has a good solid sound, with well constructed songs and lyrics, which can often be the downfall of bands for whom English is not their first language, that are quite easy to understand and meaningful. The last track contains the line ‘Masters of Mediocrity’ but this is the last accusation that could be levelled at Burning Point. In essence, this is a good, contemporary metal album and shows that Burning Point deserve to be know far beyond the shores of Finland.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Metal Heaven

Album

EMPYRE

Review by Dave Uphill

RUNNING TIME:

46:01

RELEASE DATE:

2nd March 2009

TRACK LISTING

1) Intro (The Godfather theme)
2) Empyre
3) Manic Merry-Go-Round
4) Face The Truth
5) Fool's Parade
6) Was It Me
7) Walls of Stone
8) Sacrifice
9) Cruel World
10) Blinded by the Darkness
11) Only the Wrong will Survive

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Finland

"...a good, contemporary metal album and shows that Burning Point deserve to be know far beyond the shores of Finland."