lukretion Four years after the release of his debut solo album, Royal Hunt’s mastermind André Andersen returned to the studio to record his sophomore LP, Black on Black, released in 2002 via Frontiers Records. As on the debut LP, Mr Andersen here handles guitars, bass and all keyboards, while the rest of the instruments are played by Kaj Laege (drums), Rene Rieland (guitar solos),and Soma Allpass (cello), with Ian Parry on lead vocals and Kenny Lübcke on backing vocals.

The line-up makes it immediately clear that Black on Black is a rather different beast compared to Andersen’s debut album. That album was recorded with the help of many Royal Hunt musicians and indeed ended up sounding a lot like a standard Royal Hunt release. On Black on Black, backing vocalist Kenny Lübcke is the only guest musician who has also played with Royal Hunt (and had also sung lead vocals on Andersen’s debut album). As a result, there is more distance between Andersen’s new LP and Royal Hunt’s albums. Probably the biggest and most noticeable difference is the voice of Ian Parry, which is quite diverse compared to the smooth voices that feature on many Royal Hunt’s albums. Parry’s voice is grittier and more aggressive, pushing the music into distinctively more metal territories compared to Royal Hunt’s body of work.

Indeed, on Black on Black Andersen brings in distinctive neoclassical metal influences compared to the hard rock / power / prog of his main band. The influences of bands like Rainbow and Yngwie Malmsteen’ Rising Force surface more than once on this LP, also thanks to the Dio-esque vocals of Ian Parry. The classical influences are also inevitably present, with Andersen’s keyboards weaving rich symphonic arrangements, while guitar, bass and drums play a sort of rhythmic counterpoint. But the level of metallic aggression is much higher compared to what Andersen has used us to with Royal Hunt, to the point that the keyboards occasionally slip in a background role, letting fast, neoclassical guitar riffs and Parry’s majestic voice take center stage. The songs are also leaner and more direct, which is reflected in their shorter duration compared to those included in the debut LP. In a way, a fitting description of Black on Black could be to say that this is what Yngwie Malmsteen might have recorded if he had played keyboards instead of guitars. Another fair comparison would be with Royal Hunt’s “The Mission”, which was released one year prior to this, and that also features a slightly heavier sound compared to the usual Royal Hunt sound.

Black on Black is in many respects a superior album compared to Andersen’s debut LP. The music sounds fresher and more exciting, almost to the point that one feels the musicians did have quite a bit of fun recording this. To be clear, nothing is particularly original here, as Rainbow’s shadow looms large on the nine compositions included on this record. But I appreciate Andersen’s attempt to challenge himself by writing and playing something slightly outside his comfort zone.

The album flows away pleasantly and is fairly consistent in the quality of its tracks. A few songs nevertheless stand out. “Coming Home” is a strong opener, epic and anthemic, it makes it immediately clear that it is no rehashed Royal Hunt material that we are being presented with here. The ballad “Desperate Times” is another favorite of mine, with a fantastic performance by Parry, well complemented by Lübcke’s trademark backing vocals. The use of the cello is also very apt here, adding further depth to an already dramatic and emotional piece. The other track that stands out for me is the album closer, “Piece of My Heart”. This is an atypical song, with Andersen playing Hammond and giving the track a slightly bluesy vibe, further accentuated by Parry’s graveling vocals. The rest of the album is also enjoyable. “Life” and “Black of Black” offer an interesting mix between Royal Hunt’s classic sound and the more metallic, Rainbowesque music presented elsewhere on this LP. Only “Tell Me Why”, “Sail Away” and the two instrumentals are perhaps a tad too predictable and run of the mill, but they are still passable (though, the clock watching starts pretty fast on the 6:16 minutes instrumental “Eclipse”).

Overall, Black on Black is a strong sophomore solo album for André Andersen. One of the gripes I had with his debut LP was that it sounded too close to Royal Hunt’s music. Black on Black corrects this, by veering towards a more metallic sound, influenced by Rainbow and the rest of the neoclassical metal tradition. The end result is an appreciable hybrid, which is fun to listen to and hits home with a couple of strong tracks and a generally inspired and well-arranged tracklist.

lukretion In the late 1990s, the Royal Hunt family splintered off into many separate subprojects. Singer DC Cooper released a solo album in 1999 (though at the time he was about to be expelled from the Danish melodic prog metal band). Bass player Steen Mogensen formed Cornerstone and released the band’s debut album in 2000. Royal Hunt’s mastermind André Andersen was actually the first to follow his own muse and prepare a solo record that was released in 1998 under the title “Changing Skin”.

The album’s title is actually quite ironic, because Mr Andersen on this record certainly did not change skin at all relative to his dayjob with Royal Hunt. His solo record sounds exactly like you would expect a Royal Hunt’s album to sound. Now, that may be inevitable given how Andersen is the main songwriter for the Danish band. Yet, I somehow expect musicians who embark in solo projects to stretch out a little bit from their musical comfort zone and try new things. That was the case for both DC Cooper’s solo album and Cornerstone’s debut album, for instance. Changing Skin instead is firmly grounded in the special blend of symphonic metal, hard rock and prog/power metal that Royal Hunt have become known for.

The 6 tracks of the album are built around Andersen’s considerable keyboard skills. The music is majestic and symphonic, with a strong classical flavor in the arrangements. Andersen is also in charge of rhythmic guitar and bass on this album. However, the use of the guitars is not very different from how they are used in Royal Hunt. The riffs serve as counterpoint for the keyboard melodies, playing the role that strings would play in an orchestra. The drums (handled by Kaj Laege and Royal Hunt’s drummers Kenneth Olsen and Allan Sørensen) follow the bass/guitar dynamics and therefore also have a strong classical feel in the way they are employed on the record. The songs stay in a driving mid-tempo range, with occasional accelerations, but the overall atmosphere is majestic and epic. The song structure is not overly complex, despite the tracks’ relatively long duration (the shortest track is just above 6 minutes). There is quite a lot of repetition of verses/choruses and plenty of solos, played by Mr Andersen on his keyboard as well as by guest guitarists Bjarke Hopen, Mac Gaunaa (Narita) and Jacob Kjaer (Royal Hunt). With such a distinguished line-up, the playing is strong throughout.

The main novelty relative to a standard Royal Hunt’s release is that the vocals here are handled by Kenny Lübcke, a singer who has featured as backing vocalist on many Royal Hunt’s albums and that here gets the spotlight shone on him. His voice is smooth and velvety, closer to John West’s than DC Cooper’s, which is partly why Changing Skin sounds somewhere between Fear and The Mission. Lübcke has a distinctive metallic timbre that one can often hear in Royal Hunt’s backing vocals and that here comes to the fore even more. While the vocal performance is generally good, Lübcke lacks somewhat the charisma and expressivity of other Royal Hunt’s singers, so the overall impact on the listener is a little diminished.

While the songwriting is good enough to make this an entertaining album, we are far from the best material Andersen has written over the years. Only the title-track and the symphonic ballad “In My Arms” are really strong tracks that catch one’s attention already from the first listen. The former is a dark piece of music that crawls around through menacing riffs and ominous keyboards and that, instead of exploding in a melodic release, on the chorus gets even darker with Lübcke’s raspy and metallic vocals sounding particularly foreboding. “In My Arms” is a fairly standard Royal Hunt’s ballad, but it has good melodies, a particularly emotive guitar solo, and a nice middle-eight with some interesting vocal arrangements. The other tracks are also decent, but are less impressive.

Overall, Changing Skin is a good album that Royal Hunt’s fans will surely lap up in a heartbeat. Its main limit is that it does not really try anything different from what André Andersen had been doing with Royal Hunt for nearly a decade at that point. Was it necessary to release a solo record so close to his main band, with many of his bandmates as guest musicians? Perhaps not, it might have been more interesting to explore new avenues or at least use a substantially different line-up to liven things up a bit. But being a big Royal Hunt’s sucker, I can’t complain too much really, as Andersen delivers the goods as usual and I cannot not be happy about that.

Marty McFly Power Metal type music (not sure about exact genre/type) with strong hints of classical influences (including the instrument used in at least two computer game soundtracks - Warcraft II & Might and Magic VII, both fantasy themed, hence the feeling).

Even it's nice music, I can't help but feel that some elements in it are too similar (it's highly "themed" album). Lyrics are of standard sort I suppose.

Strongly melodic, sometimes cheesy (but that is inevitable in this genre I suppose), but not too much. Enjoyable album for those who want less complex, highly melodic and "nuevo" medieval styling (seems popular in 90s).