Frontiers
2007
1. The Revenge
2. Obsessed
3. Victory
4. Master Of Sorrow
5. Will You Follow
6. Just A Dream
7. Her Spell
8. Gone Too Far
9. Wake Up Call
10. Under The Waves
11. Who Can You Trust
12. When Time Doesn't Heal
When I first heard about a collaboration between Russell Allen and Jorn Lande... excitement doesn't seem to cover it. Add in a very capable songwriter named Magnus Karlsson from such good bands as Last Tribe and Starbreaker and it seemed a can't miss. What I got from the first album, The Battle, though was quite mediocre. A new album brings new hope however and I was once again really hoping for the killer release I know these 3 great musicians are capable of.
It seems I'm just going to have to keep waiting. The direction of the band just seems to be a very primary flaw in this collaboration. Both vocalists restrain themselves to more melodic sounding voices and the music is essentially fluff you could find on many melodic rock albums... a lot of them likely on Frontiers. Each track fails to distinguish itself from the last and follow such a simple formula you'll pick up on it and probably be familiar with it immediately. I just never really grabbed onto any vocal or instrumental hooks and then the thing was over leaving me with nothing more than when I started. Allen and Lande's singing seems interchangeable and it appears to me two vocalists were only used for 2 reasons... name recognition and making them harmonize in similar voices. In my opinion, when you have an album centered on two singers there should be some contrast there. Such approaches have been used many times over with the use of clean and death vocals, etc and why have two singers at all if you're just going to have them sound like each other? I know Russell Allen is capable of a harder sounding voice and I'm once again disappointed to barely hear it. Occasionally Allen will sound slightly rough for a moment like in the song Obsessed, but then it's gone and the songs never seem to get heavy either. The music just seems content to be soft and melodic and fails to capture Allen's full strength as a singer.
Nothing on here sounds bad but it does seem as forgettable as The Battle. Just like the last album it's focused on an overused melodic rock cookie cutter sound where neither of the vocalists shine. Such by numbers music that's not even particularly catchy and lacks vocal highlights does not make for a recommendation from me. Stick with Russell Allen and Jorn Lande's other bands as they have accomplished much better elsewhere.
Highlights: Obsessed
Rating - 2.5/5
2. Obsessed
3. Victory
4. Master Of Sorrow
5. Will You Follow
6. Just A Dream
7. Her Spell
8. Gone Too Far
9. Wake Up Call
10. Under The Waves
11. Who Can You Trust
12. When Time Doesn't Heal
When I first heard about a collaboration between Russell Allen and Jorn Lande... excitement doesn't seem to cover it. Add in a very capable songwriter named Magnus Karlsson from such good bands as Last Tribe and Starbreaker and it seemed a can't miss. What I got from the first album, The Battle, though was quite mediocre. A new album brings new hope however and I was once again really hoping for the killer release I know these 3 great musicians are capable of.
It seems I'm just going to have to keep waiting. The direction of the band just seems to be a very primary flaw in this collaboration. Both vocalists restrain themselves to more melodic sounding voices and the music is essentially fluff you could find on many melodic rock albums... a lot of them likely on Frontiers. Each track fails to distinguish itself from the last and follow such a simple formula you'll pick up on it and probably be familiar with it immediately. I just never really grabbed onto any vocal or instrumental hooks and then the thing was over leaving me with nothing more than when I started. Allen and Lande's singing seems interchangeable and it appears to me two vocalists were only used for 2 reasons... name recognition and making them harmonize in similar voices. In my opinion, when you have an album centered on two singers there should be some contrast there. Such approaches have been used many times over with the use of clean and death vocals, etc and why have two singers at all if you're just going to have them sound like each other? I know Russell Allen is capable of a harder sounding voice and I'm once again disappointed to barely hear it. Occasionally Allen will sound slightly rough for a moment like in the song Obsessed, but then it's gone and the songs never seem to get heavy either. The music just seems content to be soft and melodic and fails to capture Allen's full strength as a singer.
Nothing on here sounds bad but it does seem as forgettable as The Battle. Just like the last album it's focused on an overused melodic rock cookie cutter sound where neither of the vocalists shine. Such by numbers music that's not even particularly catchy and lacks vocal highlights does not make for a recommendation from me. Stick with Russell Allen and Jorn Lande's other bands as they have accomplished much better elsewhere.
Highlights: Obsessed
Rating - 2.5/5
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