Often the places that spawn a new genre are the best at producing it. Scandinavia for black metal, USA for thrash, so with power metal it’s no surprise that the best of it has, for many, come from where it started: Germany.
Thornbridge have more thrashy guitar tones than most power metal. Though they follow a very familiar formula, it is a tried and tested formula that fans of the genre will enjoy, perhaps even more so because the tones are a little different that what you normally expect. The themes of the songs are as typically cliched as you would expect for the genre. It’s all battles, Valhalla, dragons, warriors presiding over a land of eternal death etc. However, they do pride themselves on their efforts to bring back power metal of “the good old days”, which to be fair, this definitely is for the most part.
The music is tight. The drums sound a little too electronic in places – maybe a little too polished at times but ultimately it doesn’t take anything away from what is a pretty decent album. The lead guitars are a little bit too much of the same. Vocally, they could probably do with moving away from the lower, more aggressive vocals and concentrate on the higher. Why sacrifice something you are very good at for something you’re ‘ok’ at?
If they manage to tour this enough, they could do very well. This debut release is definitely worthy of putting them on the map for power metal fans and if they work hard I could easily see them on the festival circuit within a couple of years.
Track list:
1. Intro
2. Blow Up The Gates Of Hell
3. The Dragon’s Reborn
4. What Will Prevail
5. Coachman’s Curse
6. Symphony Of The Battlefield
7. Eternal Life
8. Neverwinter Nights
9. Under The Ice
10. Tower Of Lies
11. Galley Of Horror
Playing Time: 50:26
Release date: 19/2/15
Label: Massacre Records
Website: www.thornbridge.de
Agree 8/10 ? A great record