Album Review: Allen/Olzon - Worlds Apart

We have seen in recent years a number of albums that pair two singers together, ostensibly as a way of trying to shoehorn two fan-bases into buying a single record. That's fine, but there's a simple fact that gets ignored by a lot of these things; a duet needs to have a purpose. One of two things has to happen for these albums to not be wastes of time. Either the two voices need to be different enough that one could not bring both elements to the music, or the songs need to be written from two perspectives. The latter never happens, so we'll focus on the former. There have been a lot of these records (Leone/Conti the most egregious) where the two voices were nearly indistinguishable, but even from the start of this mini-genre, it has been an issue.

Russell Allen and Jorn Lande's initial trilogy of albums paved the way for all of this, and while there is much to love about those records, I would be lying if I said they didn't fall victim to the same problem. Both are fantastic singers, but they are similar enough that either one of them could have sung the entirety of those records with practically no difference to us, the listeners. That's what makes this record so interesting to me, as Allen and songwriter Magnus Karlsson are paired with Anette Olzon, who brings a completely new and different sound to the songs. It's refreshing to hear duets that sound like duets again.

Magnus has written a lot of albums, and lately I will say I haven't been overly impressed by them. I think this is mostly due to the choices of singers, whether the guests on his solo albums, or the pairing with Ronnie Romero (who I find tries way too hard). Allen and Olzon are world-class vocalists, who both happen to have stronger appeal for me, so the melodies sparkle just a bit brighter with their voices. They don't try to push the aggression of the metal, letter Magnus' guitars do that, while they boost the melodic quotient. That's exactly how it should be.

What these two can do that a lot of these albums can't is blend their voices for the choruses. Both the title track and "What If I Live" do this, and the sound becomes deeper and more substantial for it. You can hear both of them, and the way they fill out the spectrum is one of the lost arts of metal. I absolutely love that sound, and those songs.

I have no trouble saying this is the best album Magnus has written in a long time. In fact, this is the first one in ages that reminds me of his glory days (the first two Allen/Lande records and Bob Catley's "Immortal"). It's beautiful, melodic metal at its absolute best. There's a sense of class to this that we don't always get. The cover artwork plays up the demon and angel theme, but that's not what this record is about. They are a yin and yang, but neither one is trying to bring us to the dark side. This entire record is centered on bringing us joy, lifting us up above the fray. That's exactly the sort of feeling we need right now, and damn if this doesn't deliver.

If I'm being honest, there is one criticism I would offer. The album's eleven songs only feature five in which the two singers share the stage. While their solo songs are just as good, I would have loved to have heard even more of them singing together.

When this record was announced, I was intrigued by the pairing. Now that I've heard it, I'm delighted by it. Allen/Olzon has more than lived up to the hype, giving us a fantastic melodic metal album, and if the world stays as it is, perhaps one of the best records 2020 will have to offer.