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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


Related links:

www.lasttribe.net
www.symphonyx.com
www.jornlande.com