Tag: Spirit Black
4 JORN – Spirit Black (2009)
In my opinion, Jorn Lande is one of the best new metal vocalists to come along in quite some time. His releases rarely ever disappoint me, and the new CD, Spirit Black is no exception.
The opening cut and title track “Spirit Black” is the greatest song Ronnie James Dio never wrote. Jorn Lande shows off his awesome Dio like mimicry on this tune, and it is damn cool as a result! Lande’s long time axeman Tore Moren plays some wicked guitar on this song.
“Below” isn’t my favorite JORN track by any means, but this tune does a good job keeping the pace going. Tore Moren’s guitar work is the highlight on this one.
The ultra creepy intro on “Road of the Cross” almost made think this was a Black Sabbath tune. I love the chugging guitars on this track.
I found it ironic that Heaven & Hell has a song Rock and Roll Angel, and JORN has “Rock ‘N’ Roll Angel”. They are two completely different songs
but I have to give a point to JORN. JORN’s “Rock ‘N’ Roll Angel” is clearly better. This JORN tune is a heavy yet melodic rocker that takes a couple of spins to fully absorb. Jon Berg makes a guest appearance and throws in some very cool guitar licks on this track.
“I Walk Alone” is a Tarja Turunen cover song. I haven’t heard the original song, but JORN’s version is pretty good. This song is a
little slower paced than the average JORN song, but Lande owns it vocally anyway.
My overall impression with Spirit Black is that it has stellar musicianship, and great vocals, but I am not so sure that the songs are all that memorable. It is a good disc, but not quite as good as some of JORN’s past releases. I like this CD well enough to replay it, and I wouldn’t turn it off if I heard it on the radio. I am a die-hard JORN fan though, so it might not have as much appeal to other folks. I would recommend giving the songs on JORN’s myspace a listen if you are on the fence.
Rating: 
Out of 10
Track Listing:
1. Spirit Black
2. Below
3. Road of the Cross
4. The Last Revolution
5. City Inbetween
6. Rock’n’Roll Angel
7. Burn Your Flame
8. World Gone Mad
9. I Walk Alone
Jorn Lande – lead vocals
Tore Moren – guitars
Sid Ringsby – bass
Jimmy Iversen – guitars
Willy Bendiksen – drums
Igor Gianola – guitars on “City Inbetween”, “I Walk Alone” and “The Sun Goes Down”
Espen Mjoen – bass on “City Inbetween” and “The Sun Goes Down”
Nic Angileri – bass on “I Walk Alone”
Jon Berg – additional guitars on “Rock’n’Roll Angel”
Tommy Hansen – additional keyboards
2 JORN to Release Spirit Black July 14th, Audio Samples Available
Frontiers Records is excited to announce the release of JORN’s brand new studio album entitled “Spirit Black” on June 5th in Europe and July 14th in the USA.
Considered by many fans and critics as one of the finest voices in Hard Rock to arrive on the scene at the end of the 20th century, JORN is now ready to unleash upon the world yet another studio album entitled “Spirit Black”. “I have carried some of these ideas with me for quite some time” tells Lande, “Willy, Jimmy, Sid and myself have known each other since the 80’s, and some of the song ideas and demos from back then have now seen the light of day, and become an essential part of Spirit Black. When we were younger we usually never cared about what we did yesterday, only about the future, but the past can sometimes reveal hidden treasures and I discovered great potential in some of these song-ideas”. The result: “Spirit Black” is another slab of classic Hard Rock with 80’s Metal elements which will definitely please all those who loved his recent “Lonely Are The Brave”, released in June 2008.
A winning formula should not change, so Jorn has worked again with 
Tommy Hansen at Jailhouse Studios in Denmark ensuring the right edge to the rich guitar and vocal sound that is now trademark to all Jorn releases. “The fans can expect a solid and defined record that will shake the classic metal world and hammer the future Jorn legacy in stone” says Jorn. “The sound of the album is like a crossover between “The Duke” and “Lonely Are The Brave”, and I feel that some of the songs on “Spirit Black” have the potential to become essential Hard Rock classics that will stand the test of time”.
orn Lande’s strong and diverse voice and solid songwriting skills have now become legendary in the Hard Rock world. In a career spanning over 30 albums releases and as frontman for Millennium, Ark and Masterplan, Jorn was recently featured on spectacular projects such as Tobias Sammet’s “Avantasia”, along with stars like Alice Cooper and Eric Singer (KISS), Rudolph Schenker (Scorpions), Bob Catley (Magnum) and in Arjen Lucassen’s recent concept album “Ayreon”.
“The musical style and direction is now more defined and less experimental. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel anymore, I just want to write good quality Hard Rock songs that people can relate to and identify with”, continues the Norwegian Viking, “As we entered into the new millennium, I realized and accepted that my strength as a singer was more classic rock oriented. If you buy a Jorn album today, you know what you will get. True classic Hard Rock music”.
Jorn is getting ready to tour the world at the end of summer 09 with his band formed by Jgor Gianola and Tore Moren on guitars, Nic Angileri on bass and Willy Bendiksen on drums.
“Spirit Black” final track listing includes:
Spirit Black, Below, Road of the Cross, The Last Revolution, City Inbetweeen, Rock And Roll Angel, Burn Your Flame, World Gone Mad, I Walk Alone, The Sun Goes Down (bonus track exclusively included in the first limited edition pressing in digipak)
And, as a perfect complement to the new release, Frontiers will finally give a domestic release in the USA to the JORN DVD “Live in America” on July14th, so far only available via import!
