The Battle

The Battle, released on 19 September 2005, is the debut, combining two richly individual voices with heavy guitar and the breadth of keyboards. It was conceived by the head of Frontiers, who set two contrasting voices side by side: Russell Allen of Symphony X and Jørn Lande of Masterplan. For a project mounted by an Italian label, not one member is Italian. Sweden's Magnus Karlsson wrote the songs, produced, and played almost all the guitar, bass and keyboards; Jaime Salazar handled drums. The contrast between the voices creates tension and flourish song by song and draws out the interest of the duet form. From the opening “Another Battle” into “Hunter's Night,” and on to the closing “Universe of Light” and “The Forgotten Ones,” power metal drive crosses classic hard rock's melodic feeling to build a stately scale. For all that its origins invited dismissal as a label product, many magazines and websites named it album of the year, and it became one of the most successful melodic heavy metal releases there has been. A dramatic record on which the appeal of the two singers can be met head-on.