Jorn - Life On Death Road (2017)

Genre - Hard Rock

Label - Frontiers Music s.r.l

Track listing:

01. Life on Death Road
02. Hammered to the Cross (The Business)
03. Love Is the Remedy
04. Dreamwalker
05. Fire to the Sun
06. Insoluble Maze (Dreams in the Blindness)
07. I Walked Away
08. The Slippery Slope (Hangman’s Rope)
09. Devil You Can Drive
10. The Optimist
11. Man of the 80’s
12. Blackbirds

One of the greatest voices of heavy rock Jorn Lande returns with his latest album, and ninth altogether,  in the form of Life On Death Road. The album also marks the debut of a new line-up of very experienced and gifted musicians around the Norwegian singer. On bass is Mat Sinner (Primal Fear, Sinner, Kiske/Somerville) who needs virtually no introduction to metal fanatics.
On keyboards and production is Alessandro Del Vecchio (Hardline, Revolution Saints), who already joined JORN for the recording of his last covers album Heavy Rock Radio and was the glue that helped Jorn to create the feel and the direction for the new album.
Francesco Jovino (Primal Fear) is on drums and Alex Beyrodt (Primal Fear, Voodoo Circle) handles guitar. Truly a recipe for a roaring success.
With tracks like “Love Is the Remedy,” “Man of the '80s,” title track “Life On Death Road,""Hammered To The Cross (The Business)" "Slippery Slope (Hangmans Rope)," and “Insoluble Maze,” which are some standouts on a damn near perfect record, this album is a definite must have, especially when they are combined with the anthems and ballads which come with "Dreamwalker" and more so with "The Optimist",. This truly is a bloody great album!

As any rock fan, Jorn Lande's vocals come across as part David Coverdale, part Ronnie James Dio (hence why he was invited to perform with Heaven and Hell at the Ronnie James Dio tribute a few years ago), and he manages to utilise that full range across the length and breadth of Life on death Road.
I have to say that the production of this album is absolutely fantastic thanks to Alessandro Del Vecchio, who has done an amazing job! The albums sound is clear yet punchy, a melding of hard rocking melodic metal, catchy songs that take pages from both bands Whitesnake and Dio while still sounding 100% like a Jorn album, combining it all into his shining moment of his career thus far.
Between his stellar vocals to the brilliantly memorable songs to the on-target performances, this album is one that will likely wind up on many Best Of Lists by the end of the year.

Very highly recommended!!!

Rating: 10/10

Jorn - Heavy Rock Radio (2016)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal

Tack listing:

01. I Know There's Something Going On (Frida cover)
02. Running Up That Hill (Kate Bush cover)
03. Rev on the Red Line (Foreigner cover)
04. You're the Voice (John Farnham cover)
05. Live to Win (Paul Stanley cover)
06. Don't Stop Believin' (Journey cover)
07. Killer Queen (Queen cover)
08. Hotel California (Eagles cover)
09. Rainbow in the Dark (Dio cover)
10. The Final Frontier (Iron Maiden cover)
11. Stormbringer (Deep Purple cover)
12. Die Young (Black Sabbath cover) 

So Sinister Angels Realm followers, Baz has asked me to do an album review, Go easy on me guys as this is the first time ive done anything like this. What album are we looking at you may wonder. Well its the new cd from in my opinion a very underated singer Jorn Lande. The album Heavy Rock Radio is twelve tracks long and they are all covers, I know a lot of people dont like cover albums but you need to give this a listen. Jorn has picked songs that he likes and he does a stunning job with them all. His backing group do a stellar job of heavying up Jorns chosen tracks.
 All are sung with feeling and passion, the highlights being Running up that Hill and Killer Queen, Jorn brings his own twist to each track and the cover of Final Frontier by Iron Maiden is in my mind better than the original. Is this cd worth spending your hard earned cash on, I can only say yes.

(Review by Garry Weston)

JORN LANDE & TROND HOLTER present; Dracula - Swing Of Death (2015) Japan Edition

Genre - Hard Rock / Melodic Rock / Melodic Metal / Rock Opera / Concept

Label - Frontiers Records / AVALON / MARQUEE Japan

 

Track listing:

01 - Hands Of Your God
02 - Walking On Water
03 - Swing Of Death
04 - Masquerade Ball
05 - Save Me
06 - River Of Tears
07 - Queen Of The Dead
08 - Into The Dark
09 - True Love Through Blood
10 - Under The Gun
11 - Hands Of Your God (Exclusive Japan Bonus Track)

Norwegian Rock Stars, singer JORN LANDE and guitarist TROND HOLTER (aka Teeny of WIG WAM), have created a new Rock Opera concept album about the life of Count Vlad the III, Prince of Wallachia, widely known as Vlad, The Impaler or by his patronymic name Vlad Dracul(a).
"Dracula - Swing Of Death", to be released this weekend via Frontiers Records (available today in Japan), explores the inner struggle inside the multifaceted and engorging character that this mysterious 15th Century personality was, while also taking into account some of the metaphysical aspects that passed into literature, forming the whole basis of the vampire mythos.
"Dracula - Swing Of Death" is an album detailing the story of Dracula (combining factual and fictional aspects).
What makes this different from many previous rock operas is that there are no monologues, no interludes and no orchestral forays to create an atmosphere.
This collection is an album of ten anthems of varying styles pulled together as a musical narrative.
Where many concept albums over the years have been caught up on delivering a convoluted storyline that easily became the prime focus of the artist, Holter and Lande already had one of the greatest stories ever told and all they had to do was adapt the epic struggle of eternal love into their classic Hard Rock compositions.
“Walking On Water” and “Save Me” carry strong melodic sensibilities alongside Thin Lizzy harmonies. The title track is the real curveball as it is more vaudevillian than metallian and the flow of the album benefits from its ingenuity. The grotesquely gargantuan “Masquerade Ball” allows Dracula/Lande to bellow forth about his insatiable need – 'Tonight on you I’ll dine'.
The vocal of Lena Fløitmoen who covers both Mina and Lucy is a succulent highlight on the album as her voice brings a crisp and sharp contrast to the gravelly rasp of Lande.
Their trade-offs on the aforementioned “Save Me” and “Into The Dark” are what defines the album and brings the story to the forefront. “Queen of the Dead” could slot into the Jorn live set let alone the theatres to which the stage production is already being lined up.
Holter’s guitar work throughout and notably on "True Love Through Blood" is clinically organic with a rich tone that lets his stringed voice be as much a character in the story as that of Lande’s or Fløitmoen’s.
"River of Tears" and the album curtain call "Under The Gun" are old school Euro classic rock anthems that feed the lifeblood of the story that true love never dies.
This Japanese version of the album includes the excellent bonus "Hands Of Your God" that deserved to be included into the regular release; it's a dark, moody and somehow charming semi-ballad plenty of rich (and terrifying) atmospheres.
With "Dracula: Swing Of Death", Lande and Holter have delved deep within themselves, stoked the fires of inspiration and created their own chapter in the artistic mythos of the lovelorn Prince.
“Listen to them, the children of the night, what music they make”...
VERY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Rating - 10/10

Jorn - Bring heavy Rock To The Land (2012)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal / Classic Rock
Label -

Track listing -

01. My Road
02. Bring Heavy Rock To The Land
03. A Thousand Cuts
04. Ride Like The Wind
05. Chains Around You
06. The World I See
07. Time To Be King
08. Ride To The Guns
09. Black Morning
10. I Came To Rock
11. Live And Let Fly (Bonus Track)


Jorn Lande returns with his latest studio album, the first since 2010's tribute to the late great Ronnie James Dio, Dio with Bring Heavy Rock To the Land. (Although 2011 saw the release of the stunning live package, Live In Black!)
No one, and I mean NO ONE can afult Jorn's vocals, with a voice that is the perfect cross of Ronnie Dio's and David Coverdales, this man was born to sing rock! And thats just what he does on this album, eleven tracks of pure (and might I say brilliant) classic hard rock and metal. Sure the lyrics are occassionally cliche'd, but hey so are the lyrics of some of the best rock anthems to have ever been recorded, thats one of the things that makes great hard rock songs!
Msically every song is amazing, the production is really top notch, and Jorn's voice seems to be in fine form.
After a couple of listens I have alreader found a few new Jorn classics, Ride To The Guns, Chains Around You, Ride Like The Wind, Black morning and I Came To Rock are all anthems in the making.
If you are a fan of Jorn's previous releases, then you are surely going to love this album, and if you are a fan of great traditional hard rock music, then check this album out, you wont be disappointed.
So with this album Jorn really does "Bring Hard Rock To The Land".


Rating - 9/10

Pushking - The World As We Love It

Genre - Hard Rock / Classic Rock
Label -

Track listing -

01. Intro
02. Nightrider (Billy Gibbons: vocals, guitar)
03. It'll Be OK (B. Gibbons: vocals, Nuno Bettencourt: guitar)
04. Trouble Love (Alice Cooper: vocals, Keri Kelli: guitar)
05. Strangers Song (John Lawton: vocals, Steve Stevens: guitar)
06. Cut The Wire (Paul Stanley: vocals, Steve Salas: guitar)
07. My Reflections After Seeing the Schindler's List Movie (S. Vai: guitar)
08. God Made Us Free (Graham Bonnet: vocals)
09. Why Don't You (Glenn Hughes: vocals)
10. I Believe (Jeff Scott Soto: vocals)
11. Tonight (G. Hughes: vocals, Joe Bonamassa: guitar)
12. Private Own (G. Hughes: vocals, Matt Filippini: guitar)
13. Open Letter To God (Eric Martin: vocals)
14. Nature's Child (Udo Dirkschneider: vocals)
15. I Love You (Dan McCafferty: vocals)
16. Head Shooter (Joe Lynn Turner: vocals)
17. Heroin (Jorn Lande: vocals)
18. My Simple Song (Dan McCafferty: vocals)
19. Kukarracha (All Stars: vocals, Steve Lukather: guitar)

Pushking is a melodic rock band that was formed in 1994 in Russia. Somehow they have managed together a pretty much who's who of melodic rocks finest stars to guest on this album with, to be honest mixed results.
There is absolutely no doubting the talents of the guest stars, they are all superstars in their own rights, Alice Cooper, Jorn Lande, Joe Lynn Turner, Glenn Hughes etc, but the obvious talents of the guest stars only serves to highlight the inadequacies of the band themselves.
There are some good songs on here, even if many of them do sound a little dated, but enjoyable none the less, but as I said many of them are saved purely by the talents of the guest stars, a great example is track five, Reflections, purely forgettable and skip able if not for some great guitar work from Steve Vai.

This album is for fans of the guest stars only, to be honest, and really only for completists.

The Band are
Konstantin “Koha” Shustarev - Vocals
Nikolai Yegerev - Guitar
Dmitry Losev - GuitarValeriy Sadakov - Bass
Vicktor Drobysh - Keys
Andrey Kruglov - Drums

The Guest musicians :
Paul Stanley (lead vocals)
Glenn Hughes (lead vocals)
Eric Martin (lead vocals)
Graham Bonnet (lead vocals)
Joe Lynn Turner (lead vocals)
Jorn Lande (lead vocals)
John Lawton (lead vocals)
Alice Cooper (lead vocals)
Jeff Scott Soto (lead vocals)
Dan McCafferty (lead vocals)
Udo Dirkschneider (lead vocals)
Billy Gibbons (lead vocals and guitar)
Stevie Salas (guitar)
Steve Lukather (guitar)
Matt Filippini (guitar)
Joe Bonamassa (guitar)
Steve Stevens (guitar)
Keri Kelli (guitar)
Steve Vai (guitar)
Nuno Bettencourt (guitar)
Eric Ragno (piano, organ)



Website - Pushking
Rating - 7/10