• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Another progressive metal act from Europe. So what? What is special about this one? Well, the vocalist is none other than Mr. Jorn Lande, the new millennium’s singer (and my favourite singer so far). For those who had not been lucky enough to hear from this phenomenal singer here are some briefs of he’s carrer.

This Norwegian native began his carrer in the early 90’s with a band called Vagabond. Their music was nothing special, even boring melodic metal/AOR at times with some prog touches. The only good thing about they was Jorn himself. He made a quick and really good reputation as a new David Coverdale version. And he really sounded like Coverdale in his previous days. He was invited by Uli John Roth among many other musicians to have some guest vocals on their albums and to do some touring. After some guest vocals appearances and handling all vocals on dark progressive metal Mundanus Imperium "Spectrals Coronations" album, his big break came when in middle 1997, Micky Moody and Bernie Madsen, both original and long time members of Whitesnake where looking for a singer to do the vocals on a project they had called The Snakes. So, Jorn was the obvious choice, and the results were just magnificient. Also by late 1997, after top Norwegian prog metal act Conception broke up, guitarist Tore Otsby decide to join forces with John Mancaluso, ex-TNT drummer to make an experimental prog metal band, so they hook up with Jorn to form the mighty ARK. The rest is history. Jorn has handled vocals in Millenium "Hourglass" album (top-class melodic metal/AOR from USA), made two awesome albums with ARK (1999 "S/T" and 2001 "Burn the Sun"), was also part of Nikolo Kotsev "Nostradamus" Rock opera Cd (2001) and will be the vocalist on the upcoming Yngwie Malmsteen tour. So he is very busy!!!

So with all that full scheduled he joins a new dark and experimental project named Beyond Twilight, formed by Danish keyboard player Finn Zierler. "The Devil’s Hall of Fame" is the result of Finn alliance with Jorn, and the final product is a heavy, very dark, atmospheric progressive metal that will appeal to fans of ARK or Ayreon. "The Devil’s Hall of Fame" is not as dynamic as ARK, the songs are slower and don’t have the awesome Tore and Mancaluso on guitars and drums respectively, but it contains something you will not find on ARK albums: the best vocal performance ever done by Jorn Lande. The lyrics of this concept album deals with a guy that has a chip implanted in his brain and is using a computer to hack through his own mind. On the trip he finds out a lot of future situations he will deal with. And every single track represent one of those situations. Mr. Jorn Lande employing his voice to the maximum, describes those situation with such a passion that you actually will feel as if you were really inside the character’s mind. For every track, a different situation and a different singing style showcased by Jorn. His voice ranges from Coverdale (of course), to Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan, even to some screams like those heard on black/death metal albums. Jorn is so damn good that he can handle by himself a full rock opera album and make all the character’s voices without even sounding similar.

Through the 8 lengthy tracks of "The Devil’s Hall of Fame" (except on track#7 that is an instrumental) you will witness what is pure singing with the heart. And of course the music is excellent also, maybe too slow for the typical prog-metal aficionado, but this is a record for the open-minded ones. Also this is the perfect record for the ones that want to get a nearly one hour trip being disconnected from the surrounding world. Just an excellent album, with phenomenal singing. Plug in your earphones and prepare to take a ride through "The Devil’s Hall of Fame". I bet that once you join, you will not want to come back…