Got a copy of the Kiske/Somerville on Friday and have been spinning it in the car on the weekend. First off, for the modern production, it actually sounds really clear and impressive. Loud, but not over compressed. The only thing I will say is that in the choruses Kiske sometimes sounds inaduable compared to Amanda. Not really a big thing as these songs suit Amanda really well, and I'm notmally not that keen on female metal singers.
The songs I'm pretty sure Karlsson wrote in his sleep, and I question Sinner's involvement, but perhaps he handled the awful lyrics, as Karlsson's normally are passable. There is nothing bad on here as everything Karlsson does usually is at a standard, but some of these songs are safe and just good. There are a couple of good tracks here and as usual with his work, I'll get some replay value out of it. Salvation is actually a fantastic track even with the horrible lyrics in the chrous. Lights Out is a good rocker with a nice atmosphere, Rising Up and Breaking Neptune are solid tracks and Last Goodbye and Run With a Dream are pretty good too which actually both remind me heavily of Avantasia. The final track seems so cliche and pop, but is actually a really good anthem IMO, and has a heavy Martenssen feel.
Perfomances are good, and the chick drummer certainly is impressive too. Karlsson gets the job done, but I can's help but feel his guitar playing these days is quite lazy compared the the first Allen Lande and Last Tribe days. The solos are top notch, but I think since he's so busy, a lot of these are rushed and even one take solos. He's always been repetitive but seems in a little rut in terms of his solos. Listen to some Last Tribe solos and then these and there's no comparison.
All in all, it's shitloads better than the last Allen lande and even though this is a safe effort, shows he should have still been handling that project. Considering his first solo album, the last Primal Fear, along with his new solo album and no doubt a new Primal Fear, while providing songs each for Place Vendome and Revolution Saints, coming out with this with all that on your plate is a pretty impressive feat. I just hoped he's left the real good stuff for Freefall and PF.