Have the potential to be huge in Europe.

For a country that has been ruled by first Sweden, subsequently by Russia and then briefly by Imperial Germany until being politically discredited after their defeat in WWI and with roughly 70% of its 338,000 sq kms covered in Forest with nearly 188,000 lakes, it doesn’t leave a particularly large populace spread over the habitable parts of the country does it? Yet Finland consistently produces top notch bands capable of, or actually achieving, Superstardom – Hanoi Rocks and Nightwish immediately spring to mind and then you have Stratovarius, The Rasmus, Lordi (Remember them!?), Children Of Bodom, Ensiferum, Finntroll, Turisas, Oz (blast from my past!), Sonata Arctica, and our favourite party band of the last year Reckless Love to name but a few – with all those lakes it definitely has something to do with the water!

Now step forward Burning Point, a band led by the Mark Boals inspired screamer Pete Ahonen. Here is a band that if they were capable of having a stable line-up have the potential to be huge in Europe, particularly Scandinavia and the German markets and capable of success in the emerging Eastern European markets too. Their first album ‘Salvation By Fire’ came out in 2001 on Limb Music with heavyweight distribution by SPV, so they’re not exactly a new band but the revolving door of musicians has harmed their progress as was their subsequent dropping by Limb Music after second album ‘Feeding The Flames’ amid legal acrimony two years after their debut.

‘The Ignitor’ features a very striking album cover of what looks like Prometheus (In Greek mythology the Titan who stole fire from Olympus to give to mankind) holding fire in his hands whilst it burns around him, possibly by the Colombian artist Felipe Machado Franco (Iced Earth/Power Quest/Blind Guardian/Axel Rudi Pell etc). It gives an indication of what type of Metal music you can expect from spinning the disc as opener ‘Eternal Flame’ features frantic drumming a la Helloween and early Yngwie in a very neo-classical style with some nice keys sprinkled over the chorus.

In fact current guitarist Pekka Kolivuori has been largely influenced by Yngwie as his neo-classical solos are strewn all over this album, particularly on ‘Losing Sleep’ which also features a Queensrÿche style stanza and a very catchy bridge section, and ‘In The Night’, with a melodic chorus and high vocals plus fantastic neo-classical interplay between himself and keyboardist Pasi Hittula on closer ‘Holier Than Thou’.

Most of the songs feature a heavy riffage undercurrent with fast paced drumming by Jussi Ontero whilst there are some nice clear bass lines on ‘Lost Tribe’ by Jukka Jokikokko to prove that his contribution is valued.

A lot of the guitar melody lines mirror Ahonen’s vocals such as on ‘Demon Inside Of You’ and the title track has an Iron Maiden style intro with the keys shadowing the melodic guitars and a blistering arpeggio strewn solo full of sweeps. If this line-up remains stable than Burning Point have the potential to be huge!

Carl Buxton