Jorn - 'Bring heavy Rock To The Land' (frontiers) 5/5

OK I'll admit I'm turning into a bit of fan of Norway's finest metal hero Jorn Lande and his solo band Jorn, Maybe its his sounding uncannily like Ronnie James Dio at times, maybe its cos he pens and performs balls out old school hard rockers full of lyrics like 'raise the metal signs and bring heavy rock to the land' or maybe its the cover artwork that turns me on. I suspect its all three, but whatever the reason. This band speaks to me in ways I've not been spoken to for years, they revive my teenage years when all that was really important, was getting the beers in, getting off with girls and listening to a bottom booting metal sound track while you were doing it.

Now this is the seventh studio album Mr Lande has issued under the Jorn monicker (he has done many others with Masterplan, Vagabond, Millennium and a host of other projects), and I gotta admit in my humble opinion this is one of his best. Aided and abetted by a very talented band of metal merchants including guitarist Tore Moren and drummist Willy Bendiksen he has cooked up a cracking metal album of the old school that pay tribute to and is more than equal to the metal of 25 years ago. You get slices of Dio and 80's Sabbath (natch), hints at the Michael Schenker Group, hat tips to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and even a garnish of The Scorpions for good measure.

There is not a weak moment on offer here. Highlights include the Dio-esque title track, the Rainbow influenced Chains Around You, the power drive of the Helloween tinged Time To Be King, and the closer I Came To Rock a cut that has a certain Armored Saint feel to it. There is also an interesting cover of the Christopher Cross cut Ride Like The Wind which comes over like the version Saxon originally had in mind before they had their take on it remixed and murdered for the American Radio market.

Basically this record does just what it says on the cover, it brings heavy rock to the land by the JCB bucket load, and in a world awash with ten thousand minority metal sub genres the fact that Mr Lande and friends are still producing no bullshit quality hard rock of the old school to such a high standard can only be seen as a very good thing indeed.

Buy or Die

For fans of.. Dio, Black Sabbath, Helloween, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Rainbow, UFO and classic hard rock in general.

Royal Hunt - 'Show Me How To Live' (frontiers records) 4.5/5

Denmark's Royal Hunt have become a bit of an institution on the Euro metal scene for a good few years now, and now they are serving up their 11th studio album and the first in thirteen years to feature US vocalist D.C. Cooper, who returns to the fold to replace the departing Mark Boals.

I will confess from the off that I have a massive soft spot for this kind of epic pseudo-progressive power metal, and this one is hitting the right spots and ringing all the right bells in my old musical nogging. I mean take a track like Hard Rain's Coming which kicks off with a simple little harpsichord and vocals sequence builds up and up through driving riffs and walls of keyboards and backing vocals, takes in a soul wrenching Andy Latimer style solo from Jonas Larsen and then just when your expecting the huge finish it dies away to the same simple starting motif.. what's not to like?

There are seven tracks on offer, all pretty damn good un's they are too, even Half Past Loneliness, with its euro-vision style chorus is saved from the pits of cheese by a storming bass lick and a classic Larsen trademark solo. However to my ears the albums stand out cut is the epic title track. Ten and a half minutes of a great band doing what they do best, complete with some inspired key changes and some guitar vs Keyboard interplay to die for.

Over all I'm very impressed with this one, it may not be quite as good over all as Dignitiy's classic 'Project Destiny' album from a few years back, but its getting there. After all Royal Hunt are a band who have been doing this stuff in style for over twenty years now and over that time have honed their act well, and this album isn't going to do them or their reputation any harm at all. Well worth a spot purchase.

For fans of... Dignity, Awake, Falconer, Dragon Force, The Magnificent.....