Search - Beyond Twilight :: Devil's Hall of Fame (Reis)

Progressive metal featuring Jorn Lande

Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 06/06/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a huge fan of journeyman vocalist Jorn Lande, and love progressive metal as well, so the when I heard Lande appeared on the 2001 debut album by Danish progressive metal band Beyond Twilight - The Devil's Hall of Fame - I knew I had to check it out.



I've yet to be disappointed by a Lande performance, and this album was no exception. Jorn's David Coverdale meets Ronnie James Dio vocal style is great in a progressive metal setting; adding depth and emotion to what can often be cold and clinical music. I should point out that Beyond Twilight is progressive in the sense that Evergrey is progressive. You're not going to hear a bunch of 12-minute solo-fests (the songs average about 5 minutes apiece if you factor in the pair of 2-minute instrumentals), but there is a high level of technical proficiency as well as the overall conceptual aspect of the album that puts this in prog metal territory. It's also a fairly dark album, which brings to mind Evergrey as well.



The Devil's Hall of Fame benefits from having an interesting concept as well as by the fact that most of the songs can stand on their own merits separate from the overall concept. On top of that you have another noteworthy performance by one of the genre's finest vocalists. It's a definite winner for Jorn fans, and should appeal to most progressive metal fans as well, assuming you're not expecting something super-technical like Spiral Architect.



Jorn doesn't appear to be big on commitment, so this was his only album with Beyond Twilight. I bought The Devil's Hall of Fame because of Jorn's presence, but was impressed enough with what I heard that I'd consider buying their later albums.

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