Album Review: NORTHWARD - Northward

01. While Love Died

02. Get What You Give
03. Storm In A Glass
04. Drifting Islands
05. Paragon
06. Let Me Out
07. Big Boy
08. Timebomb
09. Bridle Passion
10. I Need
11. Northwards

Northward is a project featuring current Nightwish singer Floor Jansen and guitarist Jørn Viggo Lofstad from the band Pagan's Mind. Apparently, the duo wrote these songs together back in 2008, but it took until 2017 for the pair to find time in their busy schedules to record them.

Opener While Love Died, had a Punky Hard Rock n' Roll vibe, like a wonderful mash-up of Skunk Anansie and The Wildhearts. It's a great song that sets the tone for the rest of the album. Northward is a full-on Hard Rock band, teeming with attitude and passion, and is musically far removed from Nightwish, ReVamp and anything I've heard Floor involved with before. It makes for a refreshing change, and shows off how versatile a vocalist she is. 

Get What You Give has some nice aggressive playing giving the song a contemporary edge, before building into a powerful, soaring chorus. Storm In A Glass has a melodic Pop Rock vibe, like a mix of Foo Fighters and Heart. I Need sounds like the offspring of Motörhead and Evanescence, with its high-octane riffing entwined with Floor's melodic vocals. Let Me Out is another fantastic Pop Metal monster, that may well be my favourite track on the album.  I also really like the epic title track that develops from an electro-acoustic ballad into a rocking beast, boasting some mind-blowing lead guitar work from Jørn.

Northward is an excellent Hard Rock album, and I really hope that Floor and Jørn find time in their schedules to make another one.