“The Revenge” is the second installment to the Allen/Lande project from guitarist Magnus Karlsson who did all the songwriting, featuring the collaborative efforts of vocalists Russell Allen from Symphony X and Jorn Lande who you may know from his work with Masterplan, Ark, and Millennium.

The first album “The Battle” I really enjoyed. It was filled with hooky melodic hard rock/metal tunes and the two vocalists complimented each other very well. Stand out songs for me were “Another Battle”, “Hunter’s Night”, “Wish For A Miracle”, “Truth About Our Time”, “Where Have The Angels Gone”.

“Revenge” continues with all the great qualities that made part one so good. Starting with the edgier title track, Jorn and Russell switch off on verses and do so for five other tunes. “The Revenge” has a very nice arrangement change in the solo section. Moving along to “Obsessed” and another grittier riff, Russell rightfully takes the lead (if you heard his work on the last two Symphony X albums you will see how this song was made for him).

“The Battle” was a little more AOR based and very melodic in that sense. For “The Revenge”, Magnus has written some harder songs adding in progressive touches often like for “Victory” which Jorn and Russell share the vocal. “Master of Sorrow” has a melodic guitar/piano base for the ballad with Jorn bringing forth some great vocals as he always does for this type of arrangement. You can hear a lot of David Coverdale (Whitesnake) in Jorn’s tone here. Another Jorn tune, “Her Spell”, is up tempo and Gamma Rayish in spirit. Keeping with the mood, “Gone Too Far” follows in a very 80’s movie soundtrack way with bright keys, guitar leads and vocals from Russell Allen. The closing song “When Time Doesn’t Heal” probably has the most heart felt arrangement. Complete with acoustic guitars, strings, a power ballad approach and soaring vocals from both Allen and Lande.

“The Revenge” is a worthy follow up to “The Battle”. Check both out. If you are not familiar with the vocal talents of Russell Allen and Jorn Lande then these two albums are a great place to start doing your homework.