Reviews: Giant, Art Nation, Brother Firetribe, Holler (Matt Bladen)

Giant - Stand And Deliver (Frontiers Music Srl)

Giant return with new record, their second on Frontiers, again without founding vocalist Dann Huff, an while many long-time fans will still think this is sacrilege, I don’t really know why so I’m judging it on what I hear. 

Founding members David Huff and Mike Brignardello (drums/bass) continue the legacy of alongside vocalist Kent Hilli and guitarist Jimmy Westerlund. With Hilli behind the mic, you can make comparisons to Perfect Plan, the other Frontiers signed band he fronts, while on Beggars Can’t Be Choosers, they have the thrust of Van Hagar or Mr Big. Westerlund showing off his shredding prowess against the organs of Alessandro Del Vecchio, both men responsible for the modern sheen of the record, Stand And Deliver having plenty of 80’s sheen in the synths and funky rhythm. 

Hilli for my money does a stand up job, his Coverdale-like delivery full of attitude on the rockers but shines too on ballads such as It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over and Time To Call It Love which was written by original vocalist Dann Huff alongside the country rocking of Holdin' On For Dear Life and emotive Paradise Found. So Giant are still in touch with their beginnings even all these years later but they continue to produce quality melodic rock in 2025 with Stand And Deliver being a great example. 7/10

Art Nation - Re-Revolution Reissue (Frontiers Music Srl)

Art Nation just released an album!? I hear you cry. Yep that’s true but this is a reissue of their debut record Revolution, 10 years after its original release on Metal Heaven. With Alexander Strandell and Christoffer Borg now back together creating the music for Frontiers Music, the Art Nation founders see their debut reissued by their current label. Now I won’t go into why bands do this but basically it means that they now can use these songs elsewhere and I would assume that if they can, Frontiers will reissue Art Nations other two non-Frontiers releases. 

Anyway Re-Revolution is still a good AOR record, there’s tonnes of potential on it, though perhaps not as polished as they are now, the songs have the big choruses, driving guitars, melodic keys and even got Jacob Hansen to produce it. There’s a bit of the European melodic metal sound in here too which has now gotten more pronounced with recent records, here though they stay in the AOR sound and I actually prefer them doing this than their ‘harder edged’ stuff. You get the whole album alongside five bonus tracks, including two demos and version of Moving On from Swedish Idol . 

It’s a good package especially as the original release of this record is pretty hard to find. If you’re a recent Art Nation fan then you’ll want to pick up this album to hear where the band came from, as I’m sure they’ll play one or two tracks on any upcoming tour. 7/10

Brother Firetribe – Number One (Gramophone Records)

It’s been five years since melodic rockers Brother Firetribe released their previous album Feel The Burn, their fifth record over all. Number One is their second releases without co-founding member Emppu Vuorinen, who is also a co-founding member of Nightwish so has his hands full. In their current guise they have been releasing a few standalone singles since their last record, so these have been collected here alongside two new songs and an acoustic version. A proper between album Ep then, value for money stuff too as it’s around 30 minutes of music. Let’s start with the singles and they’re all what you’d want from Brother Firetribe, Just Another Night has a huge hook, Pekka Heino’s powerful vocals singing loud and proud.

Are You Ready takes a more anthemic turn, as Roope Riihijärvi’s guitars are meatier. Man On A Mission meanwhile is shunted ever forwards by Tomppa Nikulainen and has a great solo and Thunder Rising is more standard Firetribe. Throwbacks but with modern production is the name of the game then and so it’s on to the new tracks. Number One gets some electronic thumps to join Jason Flinck’s fist pumping bass and Hannes Pirilä consistently big drumbeats, while How Long Until Tomorrow is the ballad of the record, alongside the acoustic rendition of Bring On The Rain from the last album. This is the kind of EP I'd have expected from Candlemass' new one, great value for the listener as it's packed with some must have material. 7/10

Holler - Next In Line (Scarlet Records)

Debuting in 2024, Holler is the AOR solo/side project from Eldritch frontman Terence Holler. Eldritch are a bit of a legendary band on the Italian power prog metal scene, having realised 13 albums since Holler founded the band in 1991, he is no longer a member of Eldritch though, leaving before his first solos album Reborn was released in 2024. 

It’s clear from that record, and this one too that he has deep love for AOR and melodic rock, inspired by Journey and Boston there’s also some twists of Toto on 24Seven, the whole album very much inspired by the American AOR sound of the late-70’s early 80’s, Holler reaching into his American upbringing, when these songs were a permeant fixture on the radio. 

He’s backed by a hotshot Italian band however in places his power/prog metal vocals do seem to grate against the melodic rock backing tracks a little, maybe it’s my ears but there’s times it seems Holler is struggling a little. There’s a lot to like though, even the cover of Sia’s Chandelier is ok, just ok. This is the music Terrence Holler makes now and while it’s not Eldritch it’s decent enough. 6/10