Jørn's seventh studio album was recently released on Frontiers Records and it further cements the Norwegian's reputation as one of today's greatest rock and Metal vocalists, with this display of solid rockkin tracks. The album itself is a good mix of slower almost plodding tracks, mid-paced rockers and fast frantic numbers all molded together with a couple of cover songs to produce an incredibly rounded album.

After the short acoustic strains of 'My Road', Jørn gets straight down to business with the title track: 'Bring Heavy Rock To The Land'. It's a good solid track with chunky riffs and a booming drum sound, all of which sets the scene before the majestic vocals kick in. It's a steady paced track with Jørn sounding not unlike the late great Ronnie James Dio – although this is hardly surprising as Jørn participated in the one-off tribute to Dio at the High Voltage Festival in 2010 to honour the passing of one of his heroes.



'The World I See' is another of the slower songs here, and after it's almost ballad-style intro, the song really kicks in – slow and pondering with its heavy riffs whilst also boasting a couple of excellent guitar solos from Tore Moren and Jimmy Iversen whilst the lyrics lament the sorry state of the world today and what we can do to fix it.

Likewise, 'Back Morning' has an acoustic tone to it which doesn't detract from the song at all – being as it is, the albums only ballad. This is very much in the tone of an Aerosmith or Gary Moore song and surely this track is a good contender for some radio play?

However, the albums not just a succession of slower tracks – it also includes a good few fast rockkin numbers too. 'Ride To The Guns' starts off with a guitar/drum intro that wouldn't look out of place on a Judas Priest album before the track practically explodes through the speakers. Fast and furious, it has a solid riff and another couple of great guitar solos all thrown into the mix. With its lyrical content talking about '...cannons to the left, cannons to the right, cannons to the front...' you begin to wonder if Jørn has been listening to Iron Maiden's 'The Trooper' or 'The Charge Of The Light Brigade' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson lately and the inspiration has found its way onto this track.

The solid chords and thunderous drumbeat kick off 'A Thousand Cuts', which has a slightly different vocals style on it, but that doesn't make this mid-paced track any less enjoyable. Without a doubt, 'Chains Around You' is the fastest song presented here. Verging on thrash Metal, this is a truly superb song with more fantastic guitar solos from Moren and Iversen who, one can imagine, were battling it out in the recording studio trying to out-do each other.




Two cover songs find their way on this particular release too. First up is the old Christopher Cross song 'Ride Like The Wind', famously covered by Saxon, of course. The band aren't doing this to fill space on the album due to a lack of original material. Though, the other tracks show the bands talent with their self-penned material – this is just a band happy to record a cover song as a bit of fun, whilst at the same time putting their own spin on it.

Likewise the inclusion of the Masterplan (Jørn is also the vocalist for the power Metal quintet) song 'Time To Be King' replete with tolling bell, was done simply because when it was previously recorded he envisaged it sounding slightly different to what was eventually released, and this is his chance to be able to produce the recording he originally wanted to hear.

The album's closer is 'I Came To Rock' and what can you say except, "Yes, Jørn – that's exactly what you did on this album. Thank you and we'll see you on tour!."

Tracklist:
My Road
Bring Heavy Rock To The Land
A Thousand Cuts
Ride Like The Wind
Chains Around You
The World I See
Time To Be King
Ride To The Guns
Black Morning
I Came To Rock

Band Members:
Jørn Lande – Vocals
Tore Moren – Guitar
Jimmy Iversen – Guitar
Nic Angileri – Bass
Willy Bendiksen – Drums

Online:
http://www.jornlande.com/



22.6.12