Die-hard and casual fans of Jorn Lande know he can sing lights out. I love the vocals and discography from Jorn Lande, both with Masterplan and solo as JORN. Jorn Lande is a world-class singer of Heavy Metal and he has nothing to lose by releasing Heavy Rock Radio, an album of 12 cover songs… or does he? JORN sings very well on songs: Stormbringer, Rainbow In The Dark and Don’t Stop Believing; only the vocals of David Coverdale, Ronnie James Dio and Steve Perry, respectively, made their songs magical and timeless, whereas JORN is better off at being a fan of these three songs.
Certainly, there are slight differences musically with each song on this album, compared to the original song; for me to get into each and every nuance regarding such differences would make me look like I have nothing better to do. Seriously. I’ll try to give you all the scary details about this album; so strap yourself in for I’m not being Mr. fanboy right now.
JORN fails miserably with the cover of the iconic Queen song: Killer Queen. It’s so stale both vocally and musically that if I was producing this album it would have been left off. Hotel California is no better. Sorry, this song should never, ever, ever be covered by nobody. All that JORN did with the Eagles Hotel California is make it into a second-tier, county fair, who cares, (let’s make a) Heavy Metal cover song. The electric guitar brilliance of Eagles legends Don Felder and Joe Walsh on the original Hotel California song is breathtaking to me, especially their extended dual-solo; why JORN messed with this is beyond me.
Above: Jorn Lande
JORN even (gulp) covers I Know There’s Something Going On by (gulp) ABBA member Frida. Oh my God is this song a disaster. WTF!? JORN? What were you thinking, dude? Why pick this song? JORN’s cover of this early 80’s bubble-gum song should not be. I’m not sorry for saying that. It’s that seriously awful. It just sounds like Jorn Lande was not pumped up for this album at all. I won’t even mention the cover of the Black Sabbath classic: Die Young. Forget about it. Not worth our time here.
The two huge highlights on this album are Jorn Lande and his band knocking the Paul Stanley song, Live To Win, right out of the park. JORN also excels with the cover of John Farnham’s song: You’re The Voice. Jorns’ vocals are powerful on these songs, the way it should be. I honestly love these covers of two such inspirational songs and JORN actually gives them both a jolt or two of extra inspiration. Unfortunately, minus the two aforementioned songs, this album as a sum of its parts is absolutely not very good at all and I am shocked as hell by it all. – Stone
LONG LIVE JORN.
Stone.
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