Allen/Lande - The Revenge

Published May 17 2007

*=Staff's pick	The Revenge Obsessed* Victory Master Of Sorrow* Will You Follow Just A Dream Her Spell Gone Too Far Wake Up Call* Under The Waves* Who Can You Trust When Time Doesn't Heal

Genre	Melodic Metal	Russel Allen/Jorn Lande	Vocals
Tracks	12	Magnus Karlsson	Guitar
Runningtime	63 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Frontiers Records	Magnus Karlsson	Bass
Release	11 May 2007	Jaime Salazar	Drums
Country	USA/Norway/Sweden	Magnus Karlsson	Keyboard
Similar artists	Masterplan, Last Tribe, Planet Alliance

In 2005 a record entitled The Battle rocked the world in the melodic metal community. The album was a collection of brilliant compositions penned by Swedish guitarist/song writer Magnus Karlsson (Last Tribe etc.). When these songs were performed by two of the best vocalist you can find these days, Russel Allen (Symphony X) and Jörn Lande (Jorn, Masterplan, Ark, Millenium etc.), the success was as huge as expected. Two years later the same crew has teamed up once again for another magic potion of driven guitars, soaring vocals and accessible melodies.

The new album from the constellation Allen/Lande follows the same path as its predecessor. Considering the success of the first album this is of course the right thing to do in all aspects. What strikes me when listening to The Revenge however is that the quality of the songs is a step down on the quality scale comparing to the exceptional debut. Extremely well written songs performed in the best of ways of course but without killers like Where Have The Angels Gone that we found on The Battle. In fact, it's only the semi ballad Master Of Sorrow that make some sort of bigger impact on me. Otherwise it's an even album without fillers and fantastic vocals.

My criticism above should however be seen in the light of that I compare it with the extraordinary debut. If you compare the album to genre colleagues then it's no question about that Allen-Lande still is one of the best melodic metal outfits today and if you liked the debut you should most definitely check out this. The next time however I wish a bit more diversity and stronger material from start to finish.

See also review of: The Great Divide , The Battle

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
8	6	8	9	7

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - Hawk