Northern Kings are a Finnish “supergroup” made up of members of other ongoing acts (including Sonata Arctica, Nightwish, Charon and Teräsbetoni). They’ve released two albums ([amazon text=Rethroned&asin=B001MSB3CS] and [amazon text=Reborn&asin=B000WWN3NM] in 2007 and 2008 respectively), both of which are made up completely of covers.
Today’s pick of the bunch, Dire Straits‘ “Brother in Arms”, is typical of the sweeping orchestral arrangements they make of the original material. Great vocals, wonderful adaptations. If there’s a band who take good songs and really bend them to their own will, it’s Northern Kings. A shame that the two albums seemed to be the extent of their releases.
Incidentally, here’s a link to a live version of the same song. It’s damn good, but the recording’s not perfect so I didn’t want to have it as the main video. There’s no official video for the song as far as I’m aware, and YouTube is awash with home-made versions so I’ve picked one more or less at random!
