JORN – Out To Every Nation

Norwegian wonderboy singer Jorn Lande (of Ark, Mundanus Imperium, The Snakes, Malmsteen, Nostradamus, and Beyond Twilight fame) is out with his third solo effort. His previous two efforts, Starlight and Worldchanger were both good albums, but to my ears nothing more than that. Actually, I’ve become more and more certain that Out to Every Nation is the album to prove me wrong.

There’s one major complaint I have about this album: Jorn Lande has a tremendous voice (he’s proven that enough times already), but there’s the old saying about “too much of a good thing, is simply too much of a good thing,” and that pretty much sums it up, really. Jorn’s penned some fairly awesome tunes this time around too, but there are so many “ooh’s,” “mmm’s,” and “aah’s” everywhere in this album that at times I felt I never had time to breathe and really listen to the music. Sometimes his ad lib lines work very well, but except for “Ooh-aah Cantona – all hail the Pride of France,” I’m not that crazed about them.

However, that is about the only complaint I have, cause this album rocks! “Young Forever,” the album’s opener, is a hard rocker with great guitar riffing, a very groovy chorus, and great drumming, courtesy of Pagan’s Mind’s drummer: Stian Kristoffersen. The title track is more of a stadium rocker, with a very-late-night-at-the-big-festival-stage friendly chorus. The melodies are strong, and I enjoy both the more aggressive middle-8 and the cool guitar work throughout.

“Living with Wolves” and “Vision Eyes” are other favorites of mine. The former is a very heavy tune with great, bombastic verses, and a killer chorus in a relatively dark package, and the latter features a great, neoclassical bridge and atmospheric, Ark-like chorus. The solo is pure shred, with Jorn Viggo Lofstad (Pagan’s Mind) and Magnus Rosen (Hammerfall) tapping their fingers to the point of blood stench and beyond.

“One Day We Will Put Out The Sun” will likely turn out to be another live favorite, with its haunting chorus and groovy verses. The riffing has a Metallica touch to it here, and the bridge is pure Zak-era Savatage … and that can never be anything but positive!

The album ends very strong, with the last, err, seven songs being of the highest quality. “Rock Spirit” is a killer balls-to-the-walls tune (complete with crowd cheering and all – Yee haa!) about Michael learning to rock (does anybody remember the band Michael Learns to Rock?), and “Behind the Clown” is a ballad, which I’ve been a little unsure about, but I’ve finally made up my mind and find it to be very beautiful. In general, this is an album that you may need to listen to many times (at least it was so for me), but finally it’ll grow on you!

So yes, this is Jorn Lande’s best solo album, and a very good album by any standard. The man himself sings very well – although I have to say I think he sounded better on the Nostradamus album – and his compatriots do a tremendous job too. Lofstad strengthened his position as Norway’s foremost Hard Rock/Metal guitar player – yep – and Rosen and Kristoffersen lay down some cool grooves, and also contribute some interesting fills here and there.

The lyrics very much center around change-the-world/be nice and kind themes, but from what I can hear they are so well written that it never gets cliche. So yes, Lande may indeed be able to reach out to every nation with this one … and he may even deserve it too!