Stephen
At first, I thought "The Battle" will be the sole project of the two infamous names, Russell Allen and Jorn Lande, but apparently they proved my opinion wrong with the 2007 follow up, "The Revenge". Still supported by the remarkable virtuoso, Magnus Karlsson, Allen/Lande continues the melodic metal saga with a string of mindblowing tracks. The sound production is excellent, the vocals delivery are unquestionable, the band is tight, but when everything looks flawless, I see a weak point of the album which lies on the songwriting aspect.
I'm not saying that they didn't write great tracks, in fact, the majority of the songs here are carefully crafted, enjoyable, and none of them is bad. But if you hear the whole 12 tracks here, everything seems too predictable and formulated, from the acoustical guitar/piano intro, the groovy beat, the drum patterns, and worst thing is, most of them seems to lack the crowning moment chorus that could be a million-sales hits.
Some of the standout tracks here are "The Revenge", a mid tempo opener with a stunning chorus, "Will You Follow" and "Just A Dream", huge chorus tunes with great groove and nice melodies, "Gone Too Far" with its gorgeous verse and pompous chorus, and "Wake Up Call", a pure melodic metal bliss with an anthemic chorus. If you like ballad, then "Master of Sorrow" is probably their strongest offering here. A beautiful piano-driven ballad that flows very well with Jorn Lande's passionate singing. "When Time Doesn't Heal" also is a spectacular power ballad with great verse, but somehow I think the chorus is slightly weaker than "Sorrow".
With half of the record suffers with decent chorus making them an average quality song, most of the times, they still showcased a superior technical ability of the band, which is a plus point of the whole album. I saw an improvement growing from their debut and if they can maintain the trend, the third release could be better than this, if any. Aside from the forgivable weakness, "The Revenge" is sure still a solid release and make a great addition to your library.