Tore Moren – Metal Express Radio

TORE ST. MOREN – Devilbird

May 3, 2013 Dan Skiba

Tore St. Moren is a guitarist who has spent a good chunk of his career playing for Jorn Lande, and Devilbird is his first solo instrumental offering to date. Devilbird includes 12 tracks created on a Hard Rock platform, which at times incorporate Blues and Jazz elements along with a few other tricks and twists skillfully meshed in. Oftentimes guitar instrumentals overload you on guitar proficiency, but the production of Devlbird is kind to the rhythm section; often making Tore’s playing just one component of the overall soundscape, which helps make each track unique and an overall pleasurable listening experience.

JORN – Bring Heavy Rock To The Land

June 1, 2012 Sean Meloy

Jorn Lande has one of the finest and most commanding voices in Hard Rock and Metal today. He is also one of the most widely criticized because of his blatant copycat styling of both David Coverdale and Ronnie James Dio. This “second generation”, if you will, of grand Metal vocalists which include Jorn, Ralf Scheepers, Tobias Sammet, and Matt Barlow to name a few, specialize in recreating the staple Power Metal sounds of all time greats; Dio, Sabbath, Priest, and Maiden. Fans that grew up listening to these bands tend to relish in their modern day creations. Therefore, Jorn’s seventh full length solo album Bring Heavy Rock To The Land is destined to be a veritable pleasure to any Classic Metal listener. Jorn’s previous studio release in 2010 was a tribute to Dio, performing a great variety of Dio cover songs. He has obviously harnessed the influence of Dio to create a slightly heavier and grittier performance on this album. Many of the tracks including the title song “Bring Heavy Rock To The Land”, as well as “Chains Around You” and “The World I See” could have easily been heard on a recent Dio solo album. Jorn digs down deep to invoke an aggressive passion in his vocals to re-create the signature Dio sound in a very justified manner. There are a couple of interesting cover songs featured on this album. First of which is “Ride Like The Wind” originally released by Christopher Cross. The unique thing about this track is that Saxon also covered this song, and Jorn uses the general Saxon arrangement. Unfortunately, it comes off slightly flat, the guitars provide very little excitement, and the composition was really designed to be sung with a higher pitched vocal. The other “cover” song featured is a re-make of his …READ MORE

CARNIVORA – Re-Incarnal

October 12, 2006 Torgeir P. Krokfjord

Featuring several of the country’s most prominent Metal musicians –- Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus), Jan Axel “Hellhammer” Blomberg (Mayhem, The Kovenant, Arcturus), and “Norway’s Slash” – Tore Moren (Street Legal, Rain) — in their ranks, Carnivora was expected to create quite a buzz with their 2004 debut Judas. However, the prophecies did not come through to the extent the band wished, and with Moren joining JORN, and Arcturus and Circus Maximus reaching something akin to a cult status in the Prog Metal ranks, 2005 was a silent year for Carnivora. 2006 saw the band head back into the spotlight, though, as they got a fair share of press coverage after having strippers onstage at the Kvinesdal Rock Festival. Eriksen had now quit the band, leaving the vocalist spot open for Eirik Barsleth, whose Rock ‘n’ Roll influenced approach suited the band very well. Circus Maximus drummer Truls Haugen replaced Hellhammer, and Rune Torgersen was added to the ranks as a second guitarist. This made Carnivora a five piece band, also featuring original member Bjarne Torud on bass. Re-Incarnal is actually a very good album, mixing inspirations from Black Label Society, Mötley Crüe, Metallica, and Malmsteen in quite an original manner –- not an easy feat with today’s over-crowded musical landscape. Barlseth’s vocals work well, although he is definitely at his best and most comfortable when he can avoid the longer melodic lines -– this boy’s a rocker, nothing less and nothing more, and Michael Eriksen-style, intricate scale-based lines are not his thing. Songs like “Deaf Dumb And Blind” and “Life Of Sin” shows his voice at its best. It must be mentioned that Eriksen guest sings on “Essence Of Time,” the most melodic song on the album, and does that very well indeed. Despite the good vocals, guitars are really …READ MORE