Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Unless humanity finds a way to take the Sun apart, to destroy it on the basis that they can, there will always be a New Day Rising somewhere in the Solar System; it’s almost as inevitable as the Von Hertzen Brothers producing yet another album of tremendous quality.
There seems to a huge correlation between the rise and enjoyment of Scandinavian music in the last 15 years and the Von Hertzen Brothers bursting on to the scenes and consciousness with Experience and perhaps more importantly the 2006 album Approach. If these things are pre-determined then there is no plaudit or appreciation to lay down, however music is a fickle mistress and she has no truck with such instances and thought of fate, things either happen or they don’t, and if disappointment happens, it is not providence who is to blame.
For the Von Hertzen Brothers, disappointment doesn’t appear in the Finnish dictionary; neither does anything resembling the distress caused by knowing how a thesaurus works. For in New Day Rising, the number of great songs in the siblings’ armoury has increased once more and like bands such as Megadeth and Iron Maiden, the tantalising prospect of an entire evening, with no interruptions, no support acts or people deciding that a loud conversation during the night is the best way to win over a crowd and a group and entertaining group.
New Day Rising sees the industry of the band, the intensity and passion, take another notch upwards and in songs such as You Don’t Know My Name, Black Rain, Dreams, The Destitute and the dangerously superb Trouble, the notch has been grooved out specially, it has been whittled out by a master carpenter on overtime pay but with care and attention that has previously been appreciated in albums such as Metallica’s Ride The Lightning or in Bon Jovi’s New Jersey, polished, refined and exquisite but with that hint of dynamic danger that comes with a excellently produced alum.
New Day Rising is as close to Scandinavian impeccability as a listener can hope for. A true ambassador for the cause of Scandinavian Rock!
Ian D. Hall