Damn Jorn has gotten 1: Fat and 2: SOME LEGENDARY FU MANCHU shit going on!

Written by Irritable Ted on 16.06.2012 at 12:25

He has a great voice and should be the successor to RJD....but he can't write a song for toffee.

The only decent stuff he has done is where it is written with or by other people.

I am in full agreement. His solo work just doesn't interest me but I love masterplan!

This is kind of a dull song, but I like Jorn's voice. He doesn't really get a chance to do anything with it here. The Scarecrow by Avantasia = Getting to do shit. Totally epic. This? Average rock.

He was more epic in this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohotcna05Ao

I love Jorn, dammit. This video and song are... okay. Certainly not spectacular by any means, but definitely a step above the track Bring Heavy Rock To The Land. But I disagree with the negative comments regarding his solo material. He has several albums that I find highly enjoyable: Worldchanger, Out To Every Nation, The Duke, and for the most part, Lonely Are The Brave. But above all, I have recently discovered Spirit Black, his latest effort prior to the current travesty, to be his best yet. Chock full of memorable melodies and crafty songwriting... it's nearly flawless. But after all, it is still of the hard rock variety. I must admit though, I love Jorn too much. I first got into ARK and became obsessed shortly after. I then discovered his solo material, then Beyond Twilight, then Masterplan... and I was continually enthralled. Allen/Lande followed suit and I have even become enamored with his very early work with Vagabond and Millenium. The point of all of this is to clarify that I am an ultra-biased fanatic and therefore may not have much solid ground to stand on, but nevertheless I implore the community to closely consider the album Spirit Black. An album surely on par with the likes of Burn The Sun, The Devil's Hall of Fame and Masterplan's self-titled.

Written by Irritable Ted on 17.06.2012 at 12:56

Written by bazinko on 17.06.2012 at 07:48

I love Jorn, dammit. This video and song are... okay. Certainly not spectacular by any means, but definitely a step above the track Bring Heavy Rock To The Land. But I disagree with the negative comments regarding his solo material. He has several albums that I find highly enjoyable: Worldchanger, Out To Every Nation, The Duke, and for the most part, Lonely Are The Brave. But above all, I have recently discovered Spirit Black, his latest effort prior to the current travesty, to be his best yet. Chock full of memorable melodies and crafty songwriting... it's nearly flawless. But after all, it is still of the hard rock variety. I must admit though, I love Jorn too much. I first got into ARK and became obsessed shortly after. I then discovered his solo material, then Beyond Twilight, then Masterplan... and I was continually enthralled. Allen/Lande followed suit and I have even become enamored with his very early work with Vagabond and Millenium. The point of all of this is to clarify that I am an ultra-biased fanatic and therefore may not have much solid ground to stand on, but nevertheless I implore the community to closely consider the album Spirit Black. An album surely on par with the likes of Burn The Sun, The Devil's Hall of Fame and Masterplan's self-titled.

I'm never going to argue with someone elses taste or personal opinion. If you have found your thing that is special to you I'm not going to try to put you down.

Spirit Black is the strongest of his solo albums....but the strongest songs on there are cover versions, The Sun Goes Down (Thin Lizzy), I Walk Alone (Tarja) and City In Between (reissue co-written by Ronni Le Tekro, who wrote most of TNT's brilliant early albums).

He has one of the best voices in the genre at the moment, but IMHO he is best when he hasn't written it.

I agree. He's definitely better at collaborating than attempting to churn out material by himself. And I feel that Bring Heavy Rock To The Land is indicative of that. I have so far found it to be a lackluster collection of songs; aimless and purposeless, void of the passion he once exhibited. In the scope of his solo material, I feel that his union with Pagan's Mind guitarist Jorn Viggo Lofstad inevitably yielded his most consistent efforts (Out To Every Nation, The Duke & Lonely Are The Brave) and I was very interested to see where this duo would eventually lead Jorn's solo music (as all of the original material on those albums is credited to them). But then Spirit Black came out... and at first it did not strike me as an improvement. But as previously stated, it eventually won me over and I have been very pleased with it. But it confused me. The credits of the original songs on that album vary among different band members with Jorn being the constant. It led me to believe that perhaps Jorn could handle things at the helm and I began to put my trust in him to continue the adventure, but alas Bring Heavy Rock To The Land is a colossal disappointment for me, thus far. I keep reminding myself that Spirit Black did not immediately reach me and that perhaps I should not hold it up to such high standards, but I can currently only pinpoint one highlight from the album (Black Morning). How do you feel about the new album?

Also, I wholeheartedly agree that The Sun Goes Down is the best track from Spirit Black. I Walk Alone is a close second, but I feel other tracks are just as enjoyable, such as: Rock 'n' Roll Angel, The Last Revolution and Burn Your Flame. And recently I have warmed up considerably to the Japanese bonus track Wild Blood. It's surely not to be taken too seriously, but a fun cut nonetheless. But as you stated, our opinions are special and dear to us for a reason. It's fun to share them though and get a feel for what strikes happiness in others.

On that note though... I cannot (at this point) understand all of the overwhelming praise from Jorn fans for Bring Heavy Rock To The Land. Alas~