Russell Allen

Russell Allen (born July 19, 1971) is an American singer and lyricist best known as the vocalist of American progressive metal band Symphony X. He has also worked with supergroups Star One, Allen-Lande, Level 10, and as one of fourteen vocalists in the progressive symphonic metal band Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Since 2011, he has also served as the frontman of the heavy metal band Adrenaline Mob.

For other people named Russell Allen, see Russell Allen (disambiguation).

Russell Allen
Allen performing in Novara, 2007
Background information
Born (1971-07-19) July 19, 1971
Long Beach, California, United States
GenresProgressive metal, power metal, hard rock
Occupation(s)Musician, singer, songwriter
InstrumentsVocals, bass guitar
Years active1995–present
Associated acts

Biography

Before his music career began, Allen was a jouster at a Medieval Times Dinner Theater. He was introduced to the band Symphony X by former singer Rod Tyler. Allen has been the lead singer of Symphony X since 1995, releasing eight studio albums and one live album with the band.

His first solo album, Atomic Soul, was released April 25, 2005. As well as singing he also plays the bass when performing songs from Atomic Soul live.

He is referred to in various circles as "Sir Russell Allen", and he is credited as such on Arjen Lucassen's Star One albums, because of a joke that Arjen made regarding Allen's former job as a jouster.

In the summer of 2005 he went on tour with Symphony X on Dave Mustaine's Gigantour alongside such bands as Dream Theater, Megadeth, and Nevermore. The same year, he also made part of a duo melodic rock project with singer Jørn Lande (ex-Masterplan) called Allen/Lande, which has four albums, all released by Frontiers Records.

In addition to being Symphony X vocalist, he is also currently working in another band with guitarist Mike Orlando called Adrenaline Mob.

In November 2013, Allen joined Trans-Siberian Orchestra for their 2013 Fall/Winter tour and performed with the group at the Wacken Open Air 2015. He is also featured in their 2015 studio album Letters From the Labyrinth.

In 2014, a new project was announced, featuring Russell Allen with bassist Mat Sinner and other members of the German band Primal Fear, called Level 10, with an album release slated for January 2015.[1] The release date and the name of the album were revealed in November 2013: it would be titled as Chapter One, to be released on January 23, 2015 in Europe and on January 27, 2014 in North America via Frontiers Music srl.

In 2015, Russell Allen recorded vocals for a new project of Whitesnake and former Night Ranger guitarist Joel Hoekstra called Joel Hoekstra's 13, with an album called Dying to Live, released on October 16. Russell sings lead vocals on half of the songs in the album with background vocals and the other half of lead vocals recorded by Jeff Scott Soto.[2]

In 2020, Russell Allen collaborated with former Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon on a new a duo melodic rock project under the name Allen/Olzon. Worlds Apart, their debut album, was released on 6 March 2020.[3]

Musical style
Allen during a Symphony X concert in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2007

Multi-instrumentalist, singer and composer Arjen Lucassen has said the following regarding Russell Allen:

Russell has a very powerful and versatile voice, and on top of that he is a great musician and performer. Russell was one of the few singers with whom I didn't need to be present during recording, but when on the phone he let me hear the parts he had sung, my eyes filled with tears. Russell thought I was joking, but I was truly moved! At the moment Russell is one of the best singers in the world. And he proved that during the Star One tour.[4]

Allen has worked with Lucassen on various occasions: originally he sang the song "Dawn of a Million Souls" on Ayreon's 2000 album Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator (which also featured a guitar solo by Michael Romeo), and in 2002 he became one of the lead vocalists for Lucassen's project Star One.

Allen has stated in an interview that "Ronnie James Dio is definitely at the top of my list of influences" and also mentioned Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden and former Free and Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers as influences.[5]

Discography
Allen with Symphony X in Israel, 2016

Solo

With Symphony X

With Star One

With Allen/Lande

With Adrenaline Mob

With Level 10

With Allen/Olzon
  • Worlds Apart (2020)[6]

As a guest

With Ayreon

With Genius - A Rock Opera
  • Episode 2: In Search of the Little Prince (2004) – as The Dream League Commander

With Avantasia

With ReVamp
  • ReVamp (2010) – Guest vocals on Sweet Curse

With DGM
  • Momentum (2013) – Guest vocals on Reason

With Takayoshi Ohmura
  • Devils in the Dark – guest vocals on "Delusional Dream" (2013)

With Timo Tolkki's Avalon

With Magnus Karlsson
  • Free Fall (2013) – Guest vocals on Free Fall

With Amadeus Awad's EON
  • The Book of Gates – (2014) – as The Pharaoh

With Noturnall
  • Noturnall (2014) – Guest vocals on Nocturnal Human Side, producer

With Iced Earth

With Joel Hoekstra's 13

With Trans-Siberian Orchestra
  • Letters From the Labyrinth (2015) - Guest vocals on Not Dead Yet

With Magni Animi Viri
  • Heroes Temporis (World Edition) (2016)
gollark: Or possibly to receive and decode them, I forgot.
gollark: And because the government is bad it is in fact illegal to receive those.
gollark: Less with receive only, of course. But I found out that unencrypted very strong pager messages are transmitted here not massively far off regular FM radio.
gollark: There are probably some annoying legal things related to this.
gollark: There's no theoretical reason they couldn't contain an entire SDR nowadays.

References
  1. "Mat Sinner facebook page". facebook.com. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  2. "WHITESNAKE/Ex-NIGHT RANGER Guitarist JOEL HOEKSTRA To Release JOEL HOEKSTRA'S 13 Debut 'Dying To Live'". Blabbermouth.
  3. BraveWords. "ALLEN/OLZON Feat. RUSSELL ALLEN And ANETTE OLZON Streaming New Song "What If I Live"; Debut Album Out Now". bravewords.com. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  4. Lucassen, Arjen. "Artist – Russell Allen". ArjenLucassen.com. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2006.
  5. "ALLEN/LANDE: In-depth Interview With Russell Allen". Metalassault.com. January 29, 2011. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  6. BraveWords. "ALLEN/OLZON Feat. RUSSELL ALLEN And ANETTE OLZON Streaming New Song "What If I Live"; Debut Album Out Now". bravewords.com. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  7. "Guest Musicians". New Ayreon Album. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
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