Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall: We Are The Night (Frontiers, 2020)

While it seems like there is always a new Magnus Karlsson project to keep us entertained, it’s a special occasion when we get a new album from his Free Fall solo project. This is where some of his best songs end up, and it’s so much fun to hear the guest vocalists he gets. The new Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall album is titled We Are The Night, and it features a dozen new songs and vocal performances from the likes of Dino Jelusick (Animal Drive), Noora Louhimo (Battle Beast), Ronnie Romero (Rainbow, Lords Of Black, The Ferrymen), Mike Andersson (Cloudscape), Renan Zonta (Electric Mob) and Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath).

If you’ve followed Magnus Karlsson’s career to this point, you know he has a signature style. That’s true whether he’s writing songs for Last Tribe, Allen-Lande, Kiske-Somerville or Bob Catley, and it’s true here. It’s highly melodic, classic-sounding heavy metal where the guitar melodies are rivaled only by the vocal melodies. The occasional bit of symphonic flair doesn’t change the fact that this is basically Euro-metal Dokken (which is awesome).

The song with Noora Louhimo (“Queen Of Fire”) got a lot of pre-release buzz, and for good reason. She has a very distinctive voice and Karlsson wrote a song that showcased it perfectly. “All The Way To The Stars,” featuring Mike Andersson, is another match made in Heaven, and it’s great to hear Karlsson and Tony Martin together again. And if you didn’t already know Dino Jelusick or Renan Zonta, you certainly won’t forget them after this.

While I was hoping for a couple more “name” vocalists like Ronnie Atkins or Jorn Lande (or at long last a Magnus Karlsson/DC Cooper song), We Are The Night delivers everything I expect from a Free Fall album. The songs are memorable, the solos are dynamic, the vocals are first-class, and the production (Jacob Hansen lends his talents mastering the album) is top notch. It’s everything a good melodic metal album should be, and is another must-have for fans of Magnus Karlsson’s already impressive career.