The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to rank and review the songs from the soundtrack of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Next up, we listen to Fire Saga’s “Volcano Man”, with Molly Sandén joining the film’s stars Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams on vocals.
The jury originally reviewed “Volcano Man” when it was first released, but the film gives the song a new context and it seemed appropriate to revisit it. Did “Volcano Man” get our melting heart? Read on to find out!
Fire Saga (Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams, Molly Sandén) – “Volcano Man”
“Volcano Man” reviews
Antranig: I enjoyed this song a lot more after getting to know the characters because it fits them so perfectly. It’s very cooky and such a quintessential Eurovision fodder song which would be a borderline qualifier. You could say that it is utter garbage in many ways but that’s exactly why it shines. It sets the tone of the movie superbly and is an enjoyable piece of fast-food pop.
Score: 7/10
Julia: I wish, I wish, I wish a full version of this song was made available. In its short 1:20 song length, it takes me to so many places, particularly in Iceland. Ballad, key change, synths and epic duet – this one gets my top points!
Score: 10/10
Renske: Upon reviewing the song for the second time, I have to say that it has grown on me massively since the first time I listened to it. It is mostly due to the fact I know Fire Saga better now and have seen their love for Eurovision. The track is a bit too short to be able to fully embrace it and is perhaps not the best song of the duo, but I have grown fond it.
Score: 7/10
Sebastian: What begins with a gripping breathy intro turns into some amazing chorus combination of Swedish schlager and those Sammarinese disco tones we’ve become all too familiar with. “Volcano Man” is pure cheese, but is a great introduction to set the tone of the almost 2-hour long film.
Score: 7/10
Tom: “Volcano Man” sounds like something that would have been rejected from any Scandinavian national final. That doesn’t mean that I don’t like it, far from it, it sets the film up perfectly and I would love to see a stage version of the song. One thing I will say, though, is that it is too short. At just under half a minute, there is no reason why they couldn’t release a full version of the song for the album.
Score: 7/10
In the Wiwi Jury we have 11 jurors but only have room for five reviews. The remaining scores are below:
| Deban: 5.5/10
Esma: 7/10 Pablo: 9/10 |
Robyn: 7/10
Suzanne: 8/10 William: 7/10 |
We have removed the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. This is to remove outliers and potential bias. We have removed a low of 5.5 and a high of 10.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 7.33/10
What do you think of this song? Share your own score and review below!
I love the subtle absurdity in this song. It rings so true about those cliche entries we are all very aware of in Eurovision and it just tweaks them a little to crank up the comedic value. I love the idea of a “volcanic protector man”, a “timeless hero who needs love too”. I mean, the metaphor is almost right but just so delightfully off, it’s another example of how there is a lot of subtlety on display in this movie.
7.5/10
Surely it should have been a low of 5.5 removed?