Review: Von Hertzen Brothers, Fleece

There’s a demob-happy, pre-Easter end of tour atmosphere at the Fleece, which hardly prepares us for the calamities that are about to befall Messenger. They battle manfully on, braving malfunctioning monitors, broken strings and a dodgy sound balance while we wait for the drum kit to fall apart or vocalist Khaled Lowe to tumble through a previously unnoticed hole in the stage.

Mercifully, it all comes together for their last three songs. Suitably shimmering The Perpetual Glow of a Setting Sun justifies all those post-Syd Pink Floyd comparisons. The muscular, thoroughly modern progressive rock of Celestial Spheres – or Space Balls, as Lowe refers to it – bodes well for upcoming album Threnodies (extra points are awarded for deploying the term ‘threnody’ in a prog context).

Finally, despite critics’ references to psychedelia, Dear Departures operates in the same broad territory as Alcest (post-shoegaze dream prog, according to a term I’ve just made up). Curiously, though, there’s little sign here of the folk influences that have led to Messenger being labelled a prog-folk act. Do come back when all the technical shit’s been fixed, chaps.

Yet another fearsomely talented band from Finland and regular chart-toppers back home, the Von Hertzen brothers – genuine siblings, fact fans – have been landed with the prog tag. In these newly enlightened times, that’s no longer the career disadvantage it once might have been, but the label is a tad mystifying. While there’s a strong progressive rock component to their music, this is by no means its defining characteristic. There are no great epics or overarching concepts here, but plenty of melodic hard rock, driven by the brothers’ gorgeous three-part harmonies, that owes much to vintage Uriah Heep. Jonne (top-knot, bass and keyboards – often simultaneously in Geddy Lee stylee), Mikko (long hair, guitar, lead vocals) and Kie (beard, hat, specs, guitar) line up along the front of the Fleece’s stage. Drummer Mikko Kaakkuriniemi, who’s remarkably dextrous for such a well-built chap, is positioned to the left of the backdrop, while keyboard player Juha Kuoppala is tucked away at the back so far on the opposite side of the stage that he might as well have remained in the dressing room.

They get off to a suitably driving start with New Day Rising and You Don’t Know My Name, but perhaps surprisingly dispatch their best-known song – Flowers and Rust, whose gargantuan chorus would have sold a zillion copies in the US back in the 1980s – early in the set. Clearly in the mood for fun, Mikko is happy to take requests, which means we get such rarities as the never more timely dissection of religious intolerance Always Been Right and the unconventionally structured but effective Voices in Our Heads. Kie showcases his distinctive baritone as he takes lead vocals for the breakneck Coming Home from Nine Lives, and they end the set with that album’s gorgeous closer Prospect for Escape, which probably ranks as their most pure foray into proggery and permits Kuoppala to break out the mellotron emulator.

Early band anthem Gloria (nothing to do with Van Morrison) is the first encore, which at least silences the bloke who’s been shouting for it all evening, before the Von Hertzens venture into Led Zep territory for a suitably climactic Thy Will Be Done that sees Mikko on his back kicking his legs in the air. The Fleece might be a little less grand than the enormodomes these guys are used to filling in Scandinavia, but the pleasure they take in playing is palpable.

All pix by Mike Evans