Northward is a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

duo composed of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

vocalist

Floor Jansen Floor Jansen (; born 21 February 1981) is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Jansen first became known as a member of symphonic metal band After Forever, standing as their lead voca ...

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...

and

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

guitarist Jørn Viggo Lofstad of

Pagan's Mind Pagan's Mind is a progressive metal band from Skien, Norway. They have released five studio albums, and the current line-up only features original members. Biography Founded in 2000 from the band Silverspoon by Nils K. Rue, Thorstein Aaby, and St ...

. The two created the project in 2007, writing an entire album worth of music in 2008 but being unable to record it due to label issues and their busy schedules; they ultimately reunited in 2017 to finally record the album, which was released on October 19, 2018 by

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. Jansen stated that as both she and Lofstad are busy in their respective bands, Northward is a studio side-project and not a proper band, and that it would not perform live.

History

Creation (2007-2008)

At the 2007

ProgPower USA ProgPower USA is a progressive and power metal festival held annually in the United States since 2001. Its upcoming edition, ProgPower USA XXI is scheduled to take place on June 1–4, 2022. The festival's band selection process focuses on qual ...

festival, on which Jansen performed with her band

After Forever After Forever was a Dutch symphonic metal band with strong progressive metal influences. The band relied on the use of both soprano vocals and death growls. In February 2009, it was announced that After Forever had disbanded. Singer Floor Jans ...

and Lofstad performed with Pagan's Mind, the festival concluded with an "All Star Jam" featuring members of the bands who had performed at the festival, including Jansen and Lofstad. Back then, Jansen had the idea of taking a year off in 2008 so she could work on writing a heavy metal album, after spending the ten previous years doing progressive metal. Having been impressed by Lofstad at ProgPower, Jansen offered him to be involved in the project together, and the two wrote an entire album worth of music. Jansen and Lofstad put together a line-up in 2008 and recorded the drums for the album, but, as they were about to sign a recording deal, After Forever disbanded (although they would only make it public in February 2009), and as the result, Jansen and Lofstad's recording deal was cancelled. Now in need of a new main band, Jansen decided to put their side-project on hold to focus on a new full-time band, which became

ReVamp Revamp may refer to: Changes *Revamp, informal term for maintenance, repair, and operations *Revamp, informal term for editing of natural-language text * Revamp (gaming), informal term for boost or renovation of a game's UI, system stats, items, ...

Failed reunion attempts (2008-2016)

The two tried to reunite during the following years, but difficulties on Jansen's part made it impossible: first, she suffered health issues in 2011 and a severe burnout which forced her to stop working and teaching, and to cancel the rest of ReVamp's tour, while also making it impossible to work with Lofstad after the tour; then, after recovering in 2012, she was asked by Nightwish to act as lead vocalist of their tour, before becoming a full member the following year. As the result, Jansen's schedule became very busy, and put Northward on hold once again as she was focusing her side activities on keeping ReVamp active.

Recording years (2016-present)

In 2016, ReVamp disbanded, as all members agreed that it would be better for all of them to focus on their own respective projects rather than waiting for Jansen to have free time from Nightwish. This finally gave Jansen free time to reunite Northward, as Nightwish was going to take a year off in 2017; her pregnancy made recording uncertain once again, but the two managed to finally complete the album before Jansen resumed touring with Nightwish in March 2018. The

backup band A backup band or backing band is a musical ensemble that typically accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a recording session, and the group may or may not have its own name, such a ...

for the album consists of bassist

Morty Black Morten Skaget (born on 12 August 1960 in Trondheim, Norway), most commonly known by his former stage name Morty Black, is a bassist best known for playing with international bands like JORN, Ken Hensley, Terje Rypdal and TNT.TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

, drummers Jango Nilsen and Stian Kristoffersen, and keyboardist Ronny Tegner, the latter two also being members of Pagan's Mind. The album is mixed and

mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

Volbeat Volbeat are a Danish rock band formed in Copenhagen in 2001. They play a fusion of rock and roll, heavy metal, and rockabilly. Their current line-up consists of vocalist and guitarist Michael Poulsen, guitarist Rob Caggiano, drummer Jon Lars ...

producer Jacob Hansen. It features a duet between Jansen and her sister

Irene Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace". Irene, and related names, may refer to: * Irene (given name) Places * Irene, Gauteng, South Africa * Irene, South Dakota, United States * Irene, Texas, United Stat ...

on the song "Drifting Islands".

Reception

Northward's self-titled debut album earned positive reviews. Devils Gate Media praised the variety in Jansen's singing and Lofstad's guitar work. Blogger Man of Much Metal rated the album 8.5 out of 10, stating that "whilst this kind of rock music isn’t my usual fare, I cannot deny that this is a very striking record with plenty of positives that ensure that I enjoy the experience of listening to it." The album was a listener pick for best album of the year on

Chicago Public Radio WBEZ (91.5 FM broadcasting, FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Financed by corpor ...

's ''

Sound Opinions ''Sound Opinions'' is an independent radio talk show and podcast based in Chicago. It focuses on the discussion of music genres, history, artists and albums. It airs weekly on over 150 public radio stations nationwide and is syndicated though the ...

''.

Members

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

*Jørn Viggo Lofstad –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Guest musicians

Morty Black Morten Skaget (born on 12 August 1960 in Trondheim, Norway), most commonly known by his former stage name Morty Black, is a bassist best known for playing with international bands like JORN, Ken Hensley, Terje Rypdal and TNT.bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

*Jango Nilsen –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Stian Kristoffersen – drums *

Irene Jansen Irene Jansen is a Dutch singer. She sang on the Ayreon album ''The Human Equation'', portraying the character Passion. She was also the live backing vocalist of Star One during their tour in 2003, and played the character Morgana in two Gary Hugh ...

– co-lead vocals on "Drifting Islands" *Ronny Tegner –

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Discography

*''Northward'' (2018)

Music videos

*"While Love Died" (2018) *"Get What You Give" (2018) *"Storm in a Glass" (2018)

References

External links

* Nuclear Blast artists Heavy metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2007 Musical groups reestablished in 2018 {{authority control