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Jorn - The Gathering

Published Jan. 25 2007


*
=Staff's pick

Something Real
Gonna Find The Sun
Bridges Will Burn*
Young Forever
Tungur Knivur*
One Day We Will Put Out The Sun
Sunset Station
Hourglass*
Gate Of Tears
House Of Cards
My Own Way*
Worldchanger*
Abyss Of Evil
Where The Winds Blow
Christine
Big


Genre Hard Rock/Metal
Jorn Lande
Vocals
Tracks 16
-
Guitar
Runningtime 78 Min.
-
Guitar
Label Frontiers Records
-
Bass
Release 26 Jan 2007
-
Drums
Country Norway
-
Keyboard
Similar artists Whitesnake, Masterplan, Millenium, Ark

The "Coverdale" from Norway is back with not only one but two albums less than year after his previous record, entitled The Duke. These are however not new albums so to speak since one of them is a compilation of his earlier works and the other one is a cover album. Jörn Lande's respectability has grown immensely during the years due to his great work with his solo career and in bands like Masterplan, Millenium, Beyond Twilight, Ark, etc. Personally I find his achievements in Masterplan to be his finest and it was with great sadness I received the news him parting ways with the band. Looking upon his solo career he has previously released four albums and out of those I rank Worldchanger (2001) as his best work to date.

The idea behind The Gathering is to give the fans a chance to discover Jorn's earlier works. Some of the tracks have been rerecorded and some have been remixed and thereby given a facelift. The songs included on this compilation span not only over his solo career but also from his work together with Millenium, Ark and the Allen/Lande project.

This is a massive compilation with 16 tracks, 78 minutes of classic hard rock with touches of progressive metal. On one hand you can look upon this in a positive aspect since you get a lot of music for the money, but on the other hand the record, despite the fact that it's a compilation, gets a bit uneven. The production is another issue since I find it a bit too much of everything. It feels like the guys in the studio has pulled all knobs to the max before rocking out which results in a sound that is crystal clear, bombastic but not as dynamic as I would prefer. This minor complaint however is only evident on the newest recordings on this compilation.

Apart from a couple of indifferent tunes we get a whole bunch of fantastic rockers with the characteristic voice of Jorn Lande in the front row. The heavy Tungur Knivur is a personal favourite and still one of the best tracks he has put his vocals on. The melodic Hourglass from his record with Millenium is almost equally as fantastic and works as a breather from the heavier stuff that surrounds it. I also have to mention the splendid My Own Way from the superb record he made together with Russel Allen (Symphony X). All in all, this is a perfect introduction of Jorn's carreer. His long time fans might not find anything of interest here but those of you who are curious about his earlier works; don't look any further!

Footnote: Since the songs on this compilation is picked from various projects and bands there are a lot of musicians involved in total. Here is the complete list of those: (Guitars): Tore Moren, Jörn Viggo Lofstad, Ralph Santolla, Magnus Karlsson (Bass): Morty Black, Sid Ringsby, Manfred Binder, Magnus Rosén (Drums): Stian L Kristoffersen, Willy Bendiksen, Oliver Hanson, Jaime Salazar (Keyboard): Don Airey

See also review of: Life On Death Road , Traveller , Symphonic , Lonely Are The Brave , Unlocking The Past , The Duke

Performance
Originality
Production
Vocals
Songwriting

8

6

6,5

8

7

 
Summary



7 chalices of 10 - Hawk


Related links:

www.jornlande.com
www.myspace.com/realjorn