The Von Hertzen Brothers Are "Simply Incredible"
Published
How a 15-year old rock band with three #1 albums (in Finland, admittedly) has never ever been brought to my attention is absolutely beyond me, but a combination of hearing 'New Day Rising' a few weeks back, coupled with the announcement that they’d be playing Download Festival prompted the decision to make sure I caught them on their recent UK tour.
Emerging from the darkness are Mikko, Kie and Jonne von Hertzen, and people are very pleased. The band start with the very song that made me want to see them in the first place, and it’s magical. Performed to perfection, it’s tracks like this which make me question how the UK has yet to embrace this band. A relatively straightforward hook becomes a really enjoyable introductory riff to open the show, but it’s the overlapping vocals in the chorus which make the song as incredibly infectious as it is.
The rare ability of the brothers to harmonise and combine their voices is a common trend throughout the set, which definitely deserves a lot of mention – as it quickly places them well above a typical hard rock band. I already appreciate it when all the members of a band can sing, but when they’re able to do it together, the possibilities are endless.
Mikko von Hertzen looks like and sounds like he could very well be Myles Kennedy’s Finnish doppelganger, a trait which can only mean good things. His accent is absolutely adorable too, as evidenced when he said that he and his brothers were “Vitnessing something Vonderful”.
A lot happens during the first few songs of the set. The ferocious "You Don’t Know My Name" followed the beautiful "New Day Rising", revealing a fierce side of the band in a way that the record just doesn’t showcase adequately – whilst also providing a good example of the use of overlapped vocals that the brothers seem to have perfected. "The Destitute" followed, comparable to a ballad with a groovy edge, with more emphasis on the keyboard, which coincidentally fell down off its stand in the middle of the song, prompting a very amusing “sit-down keyboard solo”. Thus, in only three songs, the Von Hertzen Brothers have managed to show three radically different aspects of their sound, highlighting their versatility as seasoned musicians.
Mentioning that Mikko is reminiscent of Myles Kennedy, if there were any doubts about whether he could compete vocally, those doubts disappeared during "Trouble". The word epic comes immediately to mind as Mikko absolutely nails what sounds like a pretty difficult track to sing – particularly the high notes towards the end - an accomplishment which undoubtedly sent shivers down the spines of the 500-or-so fans present.
"Love Burns" is as funky as the material gets for this Friday night show – a track that is as interesting as it is mesmerising, it signalled a perfect half way mark for the set. The final track, "Gloria", was another shining example of perfectly combined three-way vocals – completely satisfying – but also featured a disco-mode section towards the end, which was thoroughly enjoyable, closing the show on a very high note. It was at this point that the crazy girl at the front who had been waving a bouquet the entire time, finally threw it on stage.
With songs that get your bouncing, moving, dancing, singing and smiling, whether you like it or not, Von Hertzen Brothers are simply incredible, and not to be missed! To find out more about Von Hertzen Brothersclick here. To visit the Von Hertzen Brothers Facebook page
click here. Words by Blaine Marshall
