JORN: 'Bring Heavy Rock To The Land' Details Revealed

Frontiers Records will the release of the brand new studio album from Norwegian powerhouse vocalist Jorn Lande (MASTERPLAN, AVANTASIA),"Bring Heavy Rock To The Land", on June 1 in Europe and June 5 in North America.

Following a three-year silence since the release of "Spirit Black", Jorn unleashes upon the world yet another slab of classic hard rock with metal elements.

"I think this album follows a similar Jorn tradition like those before, more heavy rock oriented than metal," says Jorn. "But, as usual, it's not one musical expression all the way through the album, but a variety of musical landscapes within the categories of rock and metal."

A winning formula should not change, so Jorn has again worked with Tommy Hansen at Jailhouse Studios in Denmark, who mixed the album, ensuring the right edge to the rich guitar and vocal sound that is now trademark to all JORN releases. The lineup sees the return of Jimmy Iversen on guitar who also appeared on "Spirit Black". The pairing with Tore Moren works really well and gives Jorn's sound the usual depth and solidity.

As usual, in addition to the original material, Jorn offers some interesting covers. This time, MASTERPLAN's "Time to Be King" and Christopher Cross' "Ride Like The Wind" are the ones to get the Jorn treatment.

"When we wrote 'Time To Be King', I heard a different and more rock-oriented arrangement in my mind," says Jorn, "so after the MASTERPLAN album was released, I couldn't stop thinking about how it would sound if it was recorded with this other arrangement. I don't know which one's better, I have ended up liking both versions. As for Christopher Cross, I have always loved 'West Coast'-oriented music and bands like 10CC, PAGES, SANTANA, LITTLE RIVER BAND, EAGLES and so on. So I thought 'Ride Like The Wind' would be a good song to do Jorn style. SAXON also released a version of this song in the '80s, and the arrangement we made ended up beeing a mix between the original version and SAXON's. It's also a fun song to sing and play."

Jorn Lande's strong and diverse voice and solid songwriting skills have now become legendary in the hard rock world. In a career spanning over close to 40 album releases, as frontman for ARK and MASTERPLAN, in addition to featuring on spectacular projects such as NOSTRADAMUS "The Rock Opera", BEYOND TWILIGHT "The Devil's Hall of Fame", Tobias Sammet's AVANTASIA and AYREON.

"If you buy a Jorn album today, you know what you will get," states Jorn Lande. You are guaranteed to get your adrenaline going with the riveting sound that has solid roots in classic hard rock/heavy metal music, such as DIO, BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW and WHITESNAKE.

"Bring Heavy Rock To The Land" track listing:

01. My Road
02. Bring Heavy Rock To The Land
03. A Thousand Cuts
04. Ride Like The Wind
05. Chains Around You
06. The World I See
07. Time To Be King
08. Ride To The Guns
09. Black Morning
10. I Came To Rock
11. Live And Let Fly (bonus track)

The title track, "Bring Heavy Rock To The Land", will be released as a single worldwide on May 14. A video for the song is in the works and will be directed by Thomas Tjäder (PRETTY MAIDS, IN FLAMES). Jorn says, "The title track has really a strong Jorn trademark. It was a natural choice for a title track, I felt the same about 'Lonely Are The Brave' back in 2008. Sometimes one song's got the magic and you just know it. 'Bring Heavy Rock To The Land' is such a song and regardless of how the whole album is evaluated by critics, I feel that this song will live on and become an essential Jorn classic!"

Jorn will appear live at select shows in Europe during the summer.

JORN is:

Jorn Lande: Vocals
Willy Bendiksen: Drums
Nic Angileri: Bass
Tore Moren: Guitar
Jimmy Iversen: Guitar

"Bring Heavy Rock To The Land" (song) audio snippet:

Jorn Lande's "Live In Black" 2-CD/DVD set was released in August 2011 via Frontiers Records. The concert was recorded on June 10, 2010 at the Sweden Rock Festival in front of more than 25,000 people.

2010 was a significant year in Jorn's career. Besides releasing a tribute album to his hero Ronnie James Dio, Jorn was invited to perform, alongside Glenn Hughes, with HEAVEN & HELL at their final concert, which was held in July 2010 at the High Voltage festival in Victoria Park, London, England.

Just a few weeks earlier, Jorn appeared at the Sweden Rock Festival, in Sölvesborg and blew the crowd of more than 25,000 fans away.

"The special thing with 'Live In Black' is that it captures a very rough, uncut and spontaneous moment in the band's history," says Jorn Lande. "It was a hectic day, with many interviews and several TV appearances and I also had to do a short speech and statement regarding the great Ronnie James Dio's untimely passing a few weeks earlier. The whole festival became in the spirit of Ronnie, and it was very moving to see everyone there, including the artists honoring his memory."