Russell Allen and Jorn Lande - The Battle (#2964)

Anonymous · **Posted:** Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:14 pm

You're welcome to comment on:

Quote:

Russell Allen and Jorn Lande - The Battle
Melodic Hard Rock
Quoted: 95 / 100

Click here to see the review.

Ness · **Posted:** Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:27 pm

Talk about an all star line up. Russel Allen, Jorn Lande, Magnus Karlsson, and Jaime Salzaar from the Flower Kings?

Another great review. I'm going to have trouble keeping up with the past couple of weeks.

...and yes the Flower Kings rule.

ayreon · **Posted:** Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:15 pm

Marty's review is spot on here - this is a truly fantastic slab of melodic hard rock/metal, and a true contender for album of the year in that style of music.

Another music fan mentioned to me that there are no stand-out tracks as you would normally expect. This is true - but the reason is, every track is so good and of equally high standard. This is such a rare thing these days, and we may have come to expect that an album will have stand-outs and almost-rans.

With this album though, there are absolutely no fillers, no tracks to skip, every track is just sublime. The performances by all are great. There isn't much to complain about in the production department - the album sounds great.

But surely there must be something wrong?

Well, if I were pushed to say something negative about it, I would say that I wish Magnus had brought in a proper bass player.
Magnus is a great rhythm/lead guitar player, but I think the album would get an extra 1 or 2% of marks from me, if a great bass player (eg. Billy Sheehan - I wish) were given the opportunity to play on it. Anyway, this is a very minor criticism, and I am sure most listeners would not even think this, and besides, I might be way off here anyway, so what do I know?

BTW, Jamie Salazar joined "Last Tribe" (Magnus's main band) after first leaving "The Flower Kings". You can hear his almost robotic-like, punchy style on those Last Tribe albums, just as you can hear it on this Allen/Lande album.
8)

ayreon · **Posted:** Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:27 pm

Sorry Jaime, got you're name wrong again, duh?

Oh, just remembered one more thing I wanted to say about this album. Normally, I buy progressive rock and metal, and if you are like me, you may tire of this album too quickly. You'll play it to death during the first few weeks and then move on to something else. With music as immediately catchy as this, I miss the depth. It all just opens up to you too quickly. Only time will tell though, but even if eventually it turns into an occasional play album, boy, what a great one it is.

Anonymous · **Posted:** Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:30 pm

"the melodic metal genius of guitarist Magnus Karlsson (Last Tribe, Starbreaker) who wrote all the music and lyrics for this record"

??? He wrote EVERYTHING and the band bears the name of the two vocalists??? :(

Anonymous · **Posted:** Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:57 pm

Love Russell Allen but sorry to say I haven't heard Jorn yet. A couple of clips of Masterplan but not enough to form an opinion. Looking forward to getting this disk.

Eyesore · **Posted:** Mon Oct 10, 2005 8:50 pm

Jonas wrote:

Love Russell Allen but sorry to say I haven't heard Jorn yet. A couple of clips of Masterplan but not enough to form an opinion. Looking forward to getting this disk.

Jorn is an excellent vocalist, my experience with him is limited to the Masterplan albums, but he's got a great melodic/heavy rock tone with really good range.

The_Voice · **Posted:** Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:42 pm

Nice review,from a first listen i didnt tought this album was something special,i must have been distracted, because on the second listen this album hit the spot.very good album.

Eyesore · **Posted:** Thu Oct 26, 2006 3:38 am

So I just bought this album today. Why is it called Allen/Lande? All the music and lyrics were written by Magnus Karlsson! Couldn't they have just come up with a band name? Wouldn't "Magnus" have been more appropriate? What about something like "Magnall Land?" Actually, that would have been lame, but you get the point! :lol:

I downloaded this ages ago, but I'm not even sure if I ever listened to it. I listened once today, it seems great!

derncare · **Joined:** Sat Jul 16, 2005 4:40 am **Posts:** 731

I wondered the same thing. I guess they figured it would sell better as a concept with "The Battle" being betweenAllen and Lande.

Anonymous · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:04 am

Awesome news!

Quote:

THE REVENGE IS ANNOUNCED:

Frontiers Records is proud to announce the release of The Revenge the greatly anticipated second charter of the Allen / Lande musical alliance on May 11!

The first result of Jorn Lande and Russell Allen's collaboration, The Battle was unleashed in September 2005 with unanimous acclaim from fans and critics alike. Many websites and magazines named it “Record of the Year”. Its success made it one of the most popular releases ever in Melodic Heavy Metal, thanks to beautiful, sweeping piano and keyboards, heavy guitar riffs, virtuoso guitar solos, hooky choruses and the vocal talents of two of the finest Heavy Metal vocalists around. Russell Allen is the singer of the American Progressive Metal band Symphony X, who have released six studio albums and one live record so far. More than once Symphony X received accolades such as "Best Progressive Power Metal Band Worldwide" or awards for the "Best Progressive Metal Album of the Year".

Highly rated ex-Masterplan vocalist Jorn Lande has a vocal capability that is world class, distinctive, rich and spanning a large range. He is in high demand and has appeared as guest or sung for such bands as Millenium, Ark, The Snakes and many others. He is also a well-known solo artist with six studio albums released, since the debut Starfire in 1999.

Once again songs were written by guitar sensation Magnus Karlsson (Starbreaker, Last Tribe), the second chapter aptly titled The Revenge is ready to be unleashed, with cover art specifically designed for this project by Rodney Matthews (Diamond Head, Magnum, Asia etc.). Heavier and with a tighter production, thanks to the involvement of Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69, Angra, Place Vendome) at the mix, this album will excite the many fans who loved the first chapter and everyone who declares themselves fan of quality Hard Rock or Metal.

The Revenge will include the following songs: The Revenge (vocals: Jorn and Russell); Obsessed (Russell); Victory (Jorn and Russell); Master Of Sorrow (Jorn); Will You Follow (Russell); Just A Dream (Jorn and Russell); Her Spell (Jorn); Gone Too Far (Russell); Wake Up Call (Jorn and Russell); Under The Waves (Jorn); Who Can You Trust (Jorn and Russell); When Time Doesn't Heal (Jorn and Russell).

The Revenge will be out in Europe on Frontiers Records on May 11, with release in Japan scheduled on King Records.

WAKE UP CALL (Clip)
MEDLEY SAMPLER (Clips)

:dio:

Anonymous · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:29 am

That is great news indeed, I wasn't sure this would continue but I'm glad it is!

Ness · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:54 pm

Wow! Yeah awesome news. And the clips are fucking awesome! Now Russel Allen needs to finish the next Symphony X already. :mad:

Scion · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2007 2:53 pm

metalNESS wrote:

Wow! Yeah awesome news. And the clips are fucking awesome! Now Russel Allen needs to finish the next Symphony X already. :mad:

Yes, that he should. I got great hopes for it, it will be awesome i think.

Anonymous · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:41 pm

The new Symphony X will be out in May, as well.

Scion · **Posted:** Sat Mar 24, 2007 10:36 am

The Ghost of Eyesore wrote:

The new Symphony X will be out in May, as well.

Yeah heard that, i trust you will be checking it out?

Anonymous · **Posted:** Sat Mar 24, 2007 2:22 pm

Scion wrote:

The Ghost of Eyesore wrote:

The new Symphony X will be out in May, as well.

Yeah heard that, i trust you will be checking it out?

I will buy it, though I still only own The Odyssey. In fact, that's the only album I've heard by them. I wasn't much impressed when I first heard it, but it's since grown on me.

Scion · **Posted:** Sat Mar 24, 2007 4:23 pm

Cool.

Well Odyssey was an intent by the band to go back to heavier material, Sabbath etc, stuff they listened to when they grew up. They still kept the prog in there however so maybe for some people the combo doesn't work. I could also see people dislike the lenghty title track, it's pretty film scorish and "grand" in a sense.

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Russell Allen and Jorn Lande - The Battle (#2964)

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