1168. Jorn / Over the Horizon Radar. 2022. 3.5/5

Jorn Lande has one of the most amazing voices in modern day heavy metal. Having started off in bands such as Ark and the legendary Masterplan as well as the well-received Allen-Lande project with fellow brilliant vocalist Russell Allen, Jorn has concentrated on two projects in recent years, being a part of the Avantasia project that was conceived by Tobias Sammet, and his own solo releases. Within those solo releases Jorn has often concentrated on bringing his own unique takes on great songs in doing cover versions of them and has released a number of albums just with cover songs on them. He did a whole album dedicated to songs sung by Ronnie James Dio, and two others called “Heavy Rock Radio” where he not only did some recent favourite metal song covers, but 70’s and 80’s popular songs with a heavy twist, which he does perfectly. His presence always seems to be around us, and he comes across as one of the hardest working artists out there.
Like all artists, the last couple of years has allowed artists the time to go within themselves and write material for release upon their release from covid internment. And for Jorn the result of that was this album titled “Over the Horizon Radar”.

From the outset, the vocals are as terrific as they have ever been. But they are also sitting in Jorn’s mid-range, not extending themselves to the horizon, as such, as they do on other albums.
The songs themselves are in a very mid-to-low tempo, many for the most part not getting much beyond second gear in regards to their speed. In many ways, this was the direction that one of Lande’s hero’s, Ronnie James Dio, went in his later years, and perhaps this was an inspiration to him in what he has achieved here. Now while there is nothing wrong with that, in my opinion it does make it difficult to have this album on too often. I started out by putting this album on in the car when I first started listening to it and it was always great, but four or five songs in i would begin to wonder how close to the end of the album I actually was. Too be fair that is an overstatement regarding all of the tracks here. The drive of the album also isn’t helped by the lack of an influence from the drums, as well as any superlative riffs from the guitars. But as with a lot of Jorn’s albums, it is about his vocals, and that doesn’t disappoint.
The opening does promise a lot, with the title track “Over the Horizon Radar” making its presence felt immediately, and followed by “Dead London”, where the tempo gets dialled right back but Jorn’s emotive vocals give the track an ominous feel. This tempo then remains into “My Rock and Roll” and “One Man War”, two songs that to me always feel as though they are lacking a punch to really get the album going in the right direction, but again that is a personal judgement call by me. “Black Phoenix” does have a slight rise in tempo and drive that helps make it one of the best songs here. This is followed by several songs that all retain the key elements of the album, sitting in the style that Jorn and his supporting band have set this album in. And as with the earlier tracks, there is nothing wrong with “Special Edition” and “Ode to the Black Nightshade” and “Winds of Home”, it is just that I feel that having the songs at a quicker tempo and adding a bit more riffage to would have enhanced their joy. “In the Dirt” is without a doubt the best guitar driven track on the album, and as a result immediately raises your head when it comes through the speakers. “Believer” is then followed by the final track, “Faith Bloody Faith”, an extended version of the song that Jorn entered as a contestant to become Norway’s entrant in this year’s Eurovision contest. The song failed at the final hurdle, with some experts suggesting it was too heavy to really be considered. Perhaps this is the case, but to me it is more suggestive of the style of song the decision makers wanted entered rather than the quality of the song, because the quality here is certainly not in question.

Jorn isn’t breaking any new ground here. He’s not creating a stylistic masterpiece nor revisiting any old ground by cannibalising star moments from his past. My opinion of Jorn’s work in the past is that he is a masterful vocalist who is at his best when he performs songs that have been written by other people especially for his vocals. The first two Masterplan albums were masterpieces where Jorn co-wrote with Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch. They are still a template for power metal from the early 2000’s. His work with the Allen/Lande project was all written by Magnus Karlsson. His parts in Avantasia have been constructed by Tobi Sammet and Sascha Paeth. It is where Jorn has performed on songs that integrate his amazing vocals with the amazing musicianship of those other projects, as well as writers who know how to put all of that together. Back to “Over the Horizon Radar” however, and there is some good material here, and some good pieces that find their way to the surface. And while I enjoy the rest of the album, I guess it doesn’t quite capture the imagination the way other music and albums do that Jorn has been involved in. And there is no doubt that the covid years contribute to that, as with other recent release albums, because the writing and recording process has been so stagnated.
Jorn is not the only great singer out there to find that, in my opinion, they need to be a part of a conglomerate to get the best out of them – Ripper Owens is another I can name immediately in that boat – but one thing that is for sure is that I will always check out any music where Jorn’s name is involved in the linear notes. Because his vocals alone are enough to bring me to the party. And the one thing I believe I get from this album is that, if you come into this without your expectations raised and without truly knowing Jorn Lande’s past amazing albums, you will gain a better perspective of it. Because you won’t judge it as harshly as I probably have here, because I know what has come in the past. This is still a terrific album, and it remains on my playlist up to today, and the slight disappointment I feel for some of the songs are only because I feel by bumping up the tempo and energy just a little on those tracks, it would have made this an even better album. And if you aren’t sure I know what I’m talking about, check out Masterplan’s eponymous debut album. And judge the differences for yourself.

996. Jorn / Life on Death Road. 2017. 3.5/5

There’s little doubt that Jorn Lande is a marvellous singer. He has a voice that can croon just about anything, and he works it hard too, with barely a year passing without him having released an album on one of his projects, whether it be his own band as it is here or any of the many others he has participated in. It’s an interesting move for this album, as Jorn has teamed up with Mat Sinner, who apart from many other bands he is involved in is the founder and bass guitarist of Primal Fear, Alex Beyrodt, who is also the guitarist for Primal Fear, and drummer Francesco Jovino, who also played on Jorn’s last album and is now currently drumming for… you guessed it… Primal Fear! Given their track record (certainly in my opinion) you would have to think even before going in that it had the makings of a good album.

What we want from Jorn is songs like the opening title track “Life on Death Road”. This flows along beautifully, set up not only by Jorn’s amazing vocals but the twin guitar and double kick drumming. This is a brilliant heavy metal song, the kind I could settle for every single day from Jorn. It is followed by two other excellent tracks in “Hammered to the Cross (The Business)” and “Love is the Remedy” which both also showcase the excellent partnering these musicians have made.
“Dreamwalker” dials the tempo back to a dangerous moment. Jorn and the band still sounds great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s the style of the song that holds me back. No, it isn’t that horrid power ballad kind of style. Not exactly anyway. It is a change in mood from the opening tracks though, and while Jorn does love to sing in this style in his many different projects I often wish he did less of it. Fortunately we immediately forge out of that valley with “Fire to the Sun” which settles into an atypical hard rock template with guitar solo spots put in at no extra cost.
Not to put too fine a point to it, but the middle of the album does tend to go in the same direction as most of Jorn’s catalogue. That isn’t to say it is terrible, but to be honest it just gets a little boring and/or repetitive. You’ve heard it all before, and I guess that is the danger if you are putting albums on a very regular basis, for your own band or any other projects you may be a part of. Jorn’s vocals are wonderful, he has an amazing voice, but it does have that tendency to become a little bit the same if it isn’t regulated. This is why when he has done stuff for Avantasia or for Allen/Lande it doesn’t always come across that way because someone else is writing the sings and looking for a certain vocal. In “Insoluable Maze (Dreams in the Blindness)” he seems to be channelling Ronnie James Dio while in “I Walked Away” he is reaching for his inner David Coverdale. “The Slippery Slope (Hangman’s Rope)” picks up the pace in a much more pleasing fashion, with Beyrodt’s guitaring once again a pleasing facet. “Devil You Can Drive”, “The Optimist”, “Man of the 80’s” all settle in the middle ground. “Blackbirds” completes the album, and is dominated by the firing guitar of Beyrodt which keeps the song going with interest with his fast paced and single shot solo pieces punctuating the song throughout.

What is for me the most interesting part of this album is the fact that my favourite parts are actually the fantastic musicianship of the band. When Alex Beyrodt lets fly on that guitar, as he does in competition with himself in the opening track and at other moments throughout, and combined with the great rhythm of the bass and drums, this album really cooks. And that none of that has anything to do with Jorn’s vocals is as positive a moment as I can garner from this album. It’s not all peaches and ice cream, but most people will find enough here to like, be it vocally or musically or a combination of the two.

Rating:  “And I remember the day that Elvis passed away”.   3.5/5

941. Jorn / Heavy Rock Radio. 2016. 4/5

Covering other artists songs, and indeed releasing whole albums worth of cover songs, is not an unusual practice for Jorn Lande. The actual recording of cover songs has been going on for years, and this could be considered his third full album of such material, following Unlocking the Past and Dio. But if you can do it well, and the market is there, then there is nothing to stop you from going ahead with it, and that is certainly the case for Jorn Lande. His amazing voice, and ability to find players who can really do justice to such material are the key ingredients. Then it is a matter of choosing what songs you are going to have a crack at. And when you make some choices that are of interest, then you will garner the same from your fans.

"I Know There's Something Going On" was a pop hit back in the early-1980's by ex-ABBA alumni Frida, in a very pop-orientated era and direction. It's easy to see how ABBA was popular and influenced so many kids of that generation, such that they grew up as singers they still had those roots in their system. Jorn and his band do an excellent job here of updating it for the modern age, and putting that heavier rock riff into the song to uphold the title of the album. It's done well. Not as well as the next song, which proves to be the best of the album. The excellent version of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" is a ripper, and probably the highlight of the album for me. While Kate's original version has always been one that I've admired, Jorn's version here takes the best bits of that, and enhances it with a great heavy riff and fantastic vocals from Jorn himself. This is a winner, and shows the better side of covering a pop song and making it your own. Add to this the excellent version of Foreigner's "Rev on the Red Line" and you have a pretty impressive opening to the album.
I am constantly surprised, as an Australian, that John Farnham is well enough known through European countries that his music has been an influence to them, and well enough that his music is covered by them. Jorn is the second artist, after Blind Guardian, who I have now heard cover Farnsy's hit song "You're the Voice". Given that having heard it for what felt like a thousand years on the radio when it was released in Australia in the late 1980's, it's a biased view I hold over how good this version of the song is. In fact, it is still difficult to listen to without feeling nauseous. Sorry guys.
One song that most definitely does not come up to scratch is the cover of Paul Stanley's solo hit "Live to Win". The original starred Stanley's wonderful vocals at their very best, and the song is a hit because of the energy he puts into the song and makes it a real anthem. On this version, Jorn doesn't go for the vocal copy (which he possibly couldn't replicate anyway), and we have a song that fluctuates between keys both vocally and musically, and the constant changes are the biggest hindrance to finding a happy medium. The extended solo break to close out the song does its best to hide the short fallings of this version, but to no avail. This is followed by Journey's memorable "Don't Stop Believing", another really tough song to take on vocally, given Steve Perry's original and unique recording. Still, giving Jorn his credit here, he makes this version his own without causing any damage to the memory of the original song.
You start treading on eggshells when you take on classic songs that are renown for their original performance and recording, that to try anything different with them would be seen as sacrilege. Unless of course you did it really, really, really well. Queen's "Killer Queen" is treated with the reverence it deserves, also given the status of the original singer as perhaps the greatest of all time. The song doesn't waver too far from the original, and Trond Holter's guitar sticks almost perfectly to Brian May's original, while Jorn's vocals are duly respectable of the shoes he is filling. Perhaps the bravest song Jorn takes on for this album is a cover of the Eagles' massive hit "Hotel California", a really tough challenge given the high esteem it carries through all genres of music. And to be honest, it's a bridge too far. Trying to take on Don Henley on this track is a big ask, and while Jorn's vocals here are fine and he tries to add his own arts to it to make it his own, and the guitars of Holter especially at the conclusion of the song are strong,
Of the final four songs on the album, two of them can be found on other Jorn releases. "Rainbow in the Dark" by Dio appeared on the album of that name, that acted as a singular tribute to the man who obviously influenced Jorn's career from the outset. It's a more than serviceable version. "Stormbringer" by Deep Purple was a bonus track on his Lonely Are the Brave album, and is a brilliant version of this classic song, highlighting all of the best parts of the song and giving it a modern touch up along the way. A terrific version. "Die Young" by Black Sabbath is another in the long line of Dio-related songs that Jorn has covered throughout his solo career. "The Final Frontier" by Iron Maiden was somewhat of a surprise, being as it was only released in recent years, and the number of other Maiden songs that he could have covered. However, this is the one he has chosen, and they do a reasonable job of the translation, the main opinion being of course that there is little chance of ever being able to do it better than Bruce Dickinson does.

The surprising diversity of artists covered here gives this album a fair chance of being played for a longer period than most cover albums will. My usual spiel with albums of cover songs is that while the novelty is still apparent then the album will be played and enjoyed. In the majority of cases, eventually the decision will be reached that the original version of the majority of these songs will always be the better one, and so this will go back to collecting dust on a shelf. This album probably isn't too much different. Apart from the excellent conversion of the opening two tracks, and the better than average treatment of the other songs here, they are still cover versions, and by and large you will go to the original. As a novelty piece though, this is a nice collection, and a reminder especially of the great voice that Jorn has.

Rating:  "You're the voice try and understand it"... uuuuuggghh.  4/5

874. Jorn Lande & Trond Holter / Dracula: Swing of Death. 2015. 2.5/5

I can freely admit I had no idea what I was getting into when I came across, and then got, this album. The majority of the people and musicians involved in the album I had never heard of before, I literally had no idea who they were or what they did. There was only one name I recognised, and it was on the reputation of Jorn Lande alone that I went ahead and took a punt on this album.

And so we have Dracula: Swing of Death, a rock opera concept album which is based around the story told in Bram Stoker's Dracula. The project is a dual effort between Jorn Lande, whose vocals talents have taken him through many projects over the past two decades, and guitarist-songwriter Trond Holter, someone I knew nothing about. A little research led me to find he was a member of a band called Wig Wam, whose song "In My Dreams" was Norway's entrant in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, and which Holter had written. None of that really helped in looking for what direction this album would progress.
Rock opera's can go either way in terms of overall output. Some can click together perfectly and work from the outset, conceptually combining the story and the music in an enjoyable and entertaining way. Others have good intentions but don't quite hold the interest in one facet or the other. Tobi Sammet's Avantasia project is one that has continued to work over the years, both through good writing and the influx of guest musicians. Here we have the band of Holter, Bernt Jansen on bass and Per Morten Bergseth on drums, with Jorn providing lead vocals on half of the songs and Lena Fløitmoen Børresen doing her bit on the other half.
To the album itself, and while it does come across conceptually well, any more than a few listens begins to sort out the gems from the chaff, and rather than wanting to listen to the whole album all the way through you begin to pick and choose those songs that you enjoy and just want to listen to them at length. Jorn's vocals are as impressive as ever, but when he does songs such as "Hands of Your God" it just feels as though it is a waste of his talents, whereas a song such as "Queen of the Dead", where he really delivers an impassioned performance, is where his best qualities lie. "Queen of the Dead" is where the band really breaks out as well, especially in the final half of the song where they all get to showcase their talents in a fast-paced heavy guitar oriented fashion, not just holding fort while the story is told around them. Compare this to "Swing of Death", which has a very 1970's pop movement about it, both musically and vocally. Sure, it's a part of the story and this is how it has been interpreted, and this is what you get in a rock opera, a variety of styles. If you are listening to this just as an album, it does appear slightly off kilter and out of place. Lena's vocals too swoon with delight, and her starring roles in "Save Me", "River of Tears" and "Into the Dark" are excellent performances.
The instrumental "True Love Through Blood" gives the band great scope to show what they can do, and it is perhaps the best part of the album. The rhythm section sounds terrific, while Holter unleashes on his guitaring fingers to provide a fast and speed-laden track that probably stands out because it is vocal-less. The final track "Under the Gun" returns us to a mid-tempo range with duet vocals from the two lead singers, with a grand element of whimsy and emotion as the musical looks for its grand conclusion. While the performances are again great, just the melancholic and clichéd way the song is written and performed doesn't do it for me.

It feels wrong to not give this a higher rating, because there is no doubt that the musicianship is terrific, and the vocal performances are wonderful. Unfortunately, for me anyway, I was unable to get through more than half a dozen listens before most of the songs bored me despite their excellence. As a middle-aged headbanger from another era, perhaps I am unable to compromise to accept what this is and enjoy it for that. The end result just doesn't drag me back in for multiple listens, which is as good a sign as you can get that it hasn't grabbed me at all.

Rating:  I'll paint the world with the blood from the hands of your god.  2.5/5

582. Jorn / Dio. 2010. 4/5

Released scarily just a few short weeks after the sad loss of Ronnie James Dio to cancer, this album is well worth a listen whether you are a fan of either of those two gentlemen or not. Recorded as Jorn's own tribute to a man who is obviously a great influence on his own career, this is an interesting collection of songs.

It leads off with Jorn's own tribute, "Song for Ronnie James", an 8 minute composition that meshes in lyrics and song titles from Dio's career. Though I do think it is a bit long winded, it grew on me over time.
Following this is a selection of songs that intertwines Dio's career with Rainbow, Black Sabbath and his own band Dio. What impresses me most about them is that they are true to the originals musically and vocally, without being exact replicas of them. In essence they are a good updating of each song. Some stand out more than others - for me the best include an awesome version of "Lord of the Last Day", "Kill the King", "Push" and "Invisible" - but overall they are all wonderfully done.

Like all of Dio's music, nothing will ever compare to the originals along with the Master's voice. As one man's (and his band's) tribute to his music, however, this is an excellent album.

534. Jorn / Lonely Are The Brave. 2008. 4/5.

After the age-old cliché response that he and former band Masterplan were parting ways through musical differences, this is Jorn’s first solo album following that decision. Given that he left Masterplan when he wanted to go in a more melodic direction away from their heavier direction there was a fair indication of what to expect here.

Surprisingly then, this is probably heavier than I expected. Jorn’s wonderful vocals are the centerpiece of every song, and while the songs here are structured differently from those of his Masterplan and Ark past, they somehow still suit him well. There is a nice mixture of faster material and slower material, but none of it lacks the metal element. You can easily pick up the Whitesnake influences in his songs (most obviously in the opening title track), but there is a whole lot more to it as well.
Having taken the step to go out on his own again, he has done a great job here, given that you not only have enjoyed his earlier material but like your music with a twist of Whitesnake and Dio, because that’s what this most reminds me of.

Favourites for me here include “Lonely Are The Brave”, “Night City”, “Promises”, “The Inner Road” and brilliant version of Deep Purple’s “Stormbringer”.

Rating: Surprisingly good, and though not at his Masterplan peak, still a worthy release. 4 /5.