(Melodic Metal / Hard Rock) Kens Dojo - Reincarnation - 2010, MP3 (tracks), 320 kbps

Kens Dojo is a solo project from guitar player, songwriter and producer Ken Ingwersen. Ingwersen has been involved in bands like Rags, Speed, Street Legal and the Ken Hensley Band, but now he felt it was time for a solo album. Reincarnation is a straight out Melodic Rock album and he got quite a line-up of vocalists and instrumentalists to help him out. The album includes performances from, among others; Glenn Hughes (ex-Deep Purple), Ken Hensley (ex-Uriah Heep), Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus), Nils K. Rue (Pagans Mind), Chesney Hawkes, Tommy La Verdi (ex-21 Guns), Eirikur Hauksson aka Eric Hawk (ex-Artch), Truls Haugen (Circus Maximus), Morty Black (ex-TNT) and Jon Rydningen (Dream Police).

The variation that the various vocalists bring to the table is one of the reasons why this album is so good. You’ve got power ballads such as “I Surrender” that sees a performance extraordinaire by Glenn Hughes. The song is excellently written and leaves a lot of headroom for Hughes to play with. The result is spectacular. Then you’ve got the more powerful Hard Rock songs with Nils K. Rue, Michael Eriksen and Tommy La Verdi and downtempo Rock songs like the title track featuring Chesney Hawk. Ingwersen’s songwriting is great and his guitar work is strong throughout the album. The solos are superb and there’s no wonder why this man is a sought-after session musician. He handles most of the bass, keys and backing vocals as well.

The instrumentals on Reincarnation seem like a waste of time though. For instance “Momentos A Solas” is a slow and simple guitar driven instrumental that could easily fit the profile of any Axel Rudi Pell album, and it doesn’t really fit the profile of this album. The same goes for “El Recreo.” Plus snare drums with the amount of reverb that can be heard on “Momentos A Solas” were abandoned in the 80s for a reason. The only light in that tunnel is brought in with “Soundcheck Bonanza.” It’s got more speed than the other two, is way more challenging, and seems to fit the profile of the album a bit more.

Reincarnation is one of the most exciting Melodic Rock releases to surface in 2010, the line-up alone confesses to that. The record is a strong testament of Ken Ingwersen’s dedication to the genre and is bound to please every Melodic Rock fan around the world.

Track list:

Forever (feat. Michael Eriksen)/Keeping The Flame Alive (feat. Nils K. Rue)/I Surrender (feat. Glenn Hughes)/Reincarnation (feat. Chesney Hawkes)/Momentos A Solas (Instrumental)/Demon In Diamonds (feat. Tommy La Verdi)/Come Alive (feat. Eirikur Hauksson and Ken Hensley)/El Recreo (Instrumental)/Set This Angel Free (feat. Michael Eriksen)/Rain (feat. Eirikur Hauksson)/Soundcheck Bonanza (Instrumental) http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showreview.php?id=17109&lang=en

KENS DOJO - a solo project from guitar player, songwriter and producer Ken Ingwersen.

Ken started playing classical guitar at the age of 10, but was soon spelled by the electric guitar and rock music, listening to acts like KISS, Van Halen, Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple and tons of other 70's and 80's rock bands.

Spending his early teens playing in a few local bands in Oslo, Norway, the first real band making any fuzz was called LIMELIGHT. Releasing a single on Polydor, and doing a tour with TNT, Ken got hungry for doing more music. He was soon hired as a guitar player for Evenrude, a norwegian singer signed by the infamous Clive Davis at Arista Records in the US. Enjoying some touring with this great band, the big success for Evenrude never happened outside of Norway.

Ken moved on to form a band called RAGS, and released two albums in '93 and '95. The albums were well received by the global press and was released throughout Europe and Japan.

When RAGS broke up in the mid 90's, Ken formed a band called SPEED and released an album in '97 called "One". The album was released world wide through various indie labels. Writing the songs, engineering, producing, mixing, playing guitars, bass and keyboards on the album…..a reporter once said in a review: "I wouldn't be surprised if he's driving the tour bus too!"

Doing "everything" can be fun and creative, but also exhausting. This is one of the reasons why Ken joined STREET LEGAL late 90's. For the first time in many years, Ken could just focus on playing guitar. The classic album "Thunderdome", was released in 2000 on Frontiers Records and Pony Canyon in Japan. Ken also ended up mixing the album….

Throughout the 00's, most of Kens musical work was in the pop industry as a part of a production team called Oslo Recordings. They enjoyed top 20 chart success all over Europe and Asia, writing and producing hits for the pop industry. Ken loved working in this realm, being a huge fan of mainstream pop music, combining it with his rock background.

At the same time he's been a permanent member of the legendary songwriter of Uriah Heep; Ken Hensleys band since the mid 00's. Touring all over Europe with this band is something Ken still is enjoying doing today.

Throughout the years, Ken has performed and worked with names such as Glenn Hughes, Ken Hensley, TNT, Rick Springfield, Dan Reed, Chesney Hawkes, Glam (Wig Wam), John Lawton, Jack In The Box, Return, and many more. Being involved with tons of projects as a guitar player, songwriter, producer etc. for many years, Ken felt it was time to do something for himself…..a solo album.

Ken wanted to do a solid rock album, and get back to his "roots". This is reflected in the title of the album; "Reincarnation". Instead of just doing a guitar instrumental album, which is something he finds too boring, he wanted to have real songs on the album and great singers. It was time to collect some favours from his friends, and record some amazing songs with killer musicians and top notch production. The album includes names such as; Glenn Hughes (ex-Deep Purple), Ken Hensley (ex-Uriah Heep), Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus), Nils K. Rue (Pagans Mind), Chesney Hawkes, Tommy La Verdi (ex-21 Guns), Eirikur Hauksson aka Eric Hawk (ex-Artch), Truls Haugen (Circus Maximus), Morty Black (ex-TNT), Ole Devold (Tritonus), Aslak Johnsen (Mindtech), Jon Rydningen (Dream Police) and more. The album is mastered by Björn Engelmann (Rammstein, Europe, Cher), and due to release during 2010.