Does anyone else beside me like this side project release? I am a great fan of everything that Jorn Lande is involved in and this awesome melodic metal album is no exception. I can still remember that I first picked it up in September 2005, without hearing a single song or sample. It said Jorn Lande on the cover, whom I knew from his work with Masterplan, and that was enough for me. When I listened to the album, I was not disappointed in the very least, nor did I expect to be.

So what is it that makes this album so great? To me, it's the consistency of the release. It doesn't matter whether Lande or Allen sing alone or together, every song is good in its own right and many of them will make you want to hit the repeat button so you can hear them once more before you move on to the next track. This happened to me more than once, especially with the songs 'Another Battle', 'Hunter's Night' and 'Wish For A Miracle'. Some songs will take a bit longer to get into, but they are all equally enjoyable.

I also like how the album is built up. There's 12 songs on the album, 6 of which feature both singers, 3 that feature only Allen and 3 that feature only Lande. That seems to me like the perfect way to build up a cooperative release. Kudos also to Magnus Karlsson, the man behind all the music on this album, save for the drums.

If there even is such a thing as a flaw on this album, it is that Allen and Lande's vocal styles are rather similar, which can make it hard to distinguish them at times. But on the other hand, it makes the album easier to listen to because the vocals don't really 'clash'. It takes away a bit of the 'battle' element though, but it's okay, the release is damn good in its own right.

Opinions?

Metal Archives

Gosh I loved that album!! Everything about thsoe two artists fused so well. This outdid Demons & Wizards in my opinion, and that says a lot given how much I loved their work.

Well, when I saw the two names involved in this album I was really excited! However, upon hearing it I was a little let down. To be honest, I was expecting a healthy dose of prog metal, instead I got power metal, not that there is anything wrong with this genre, it's just that I perfer prog. The second let down is that I thought Lande and Allen would sing together on all songs, but it's split up as you say. That was a disappointment ~ I have songs of the pair singing on their own so I expected this to be more of a joint effort.

Weren't all the songs written by the one guitarist or something? I thought musically, the songs were quite uninspiring and sounded like average power metal. Also, Allen sounds as if he has changed his voice tone to fit that of Lande's. I perfer Symphony X Allen. Another aditional problem is that the name of the album is 'The Battle' so I thought it would be a bit like a vocal battle between the two (similar to that of Dio and Geoff Tate on Queensryche's 'The Chase') with vocal bits cutting in between each other, sort of like they were singing alternate lines but that wasn't the case.

Man, at this point in time, it really sounds as if I hate the album. There were a couple of songs I thought were prety good, such as 'Hunter's Night' and 'Truth About Our Time' but otherwise it was a bit of a disappointment for me. It's not totally unlistenable but it's just another one of those average power metal CDs. I guess I had such high expectations. Just my opinion of course.

Hey, this album is great, awesome!, but i get it the last week and i lost it, so i can only listen the first song to battle again and is agressive and excellent combination

I love this album, as soon as I listened to it all for the first time I knew it'd be one of my fave albums. I agree with the vocals sounding too similar, but like you said at least they don't clash. You can't win either way I guess. Still, great album. Best tracks: Another Battle, Wish For A Miracle, Come Alive, Truth About Our Times, Where Have The Angels Gone