The themes for Jorn’s lyrics range from the typical metal subjects of the power of drugs and rock’n’roll, to references to George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, to the most serious and unusual lyrics about slowly dying of cancer. Even with the highly varyied lyrics, Traveler feels like a unity, bound together by heavy riffs, advanced solos and of course Jorn’s characteristic Ronnie James Dio-sounding rock voice. The lyrical content adds another layer to the album, and makes it more interesting, especially the dark lyrics to Cancer Demon.
Despite the fact that this is a singer’s solo album, it is heavily guitar-based. Every song has at least one long solo, and the riff, not the melody, is usually the driving force meaning Jorn shares the spotlight with his talented guitarists Trond Holter and Jimmy Iversen. Jorn keeps the music in focus, not just himself as a singer and creates an album which feels complete.
No song sticks out as a given single or hit, but on the other hand there are no particularly weak songs either. Jorn delivers, throughout the whole album, good quality classic hard rock with a touch of power metal, which brings other Nordic bands like Hammerfall and Sonata Arctica to mind.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If9T_KfkDyI]
