Northward - Northward (2018) [CD Rip]

Hard rock duo Northward formed in 2007, but it took over a decade for the group to release any music. Dutch vocalist Floor Jansen, of Nightwish, and Norwegian guitarist Jørn Viggo Lofstad, of Pagan's Mind, met at the 2007 "All Star Jam" at the Progpower USA Festival. After playing a few covers on stage together the duo detected a creative spark, which in 2008 led them to write enough songs to fill an album. Both Jansen and Lofstad found commitments to their respective bands left little time in their schedules for their extracurricular project Northward, so the material lay dormant for the next nine years. The duo reconnected in 2017 and began to record what they had started all those years ago. They worked with producer Jacob Hansen (Volbeat) on the album, which was a hard rock counter to the metal music they made with their bands. Their self-titled record was released by Nuclear Blast in 2018. -- Bekki Bemrose