If
you want Epic - THUNDER RIDER will give you Epic!! ...until you choke
on it and wonder why the Hell you haven't played those old VENOM-records
for so long. Don't misunderstand me, "Tales.." is an alright album, OK
songwriting, "Good" production, great vocals. Knowing how popular this
style is, I'm surprised I don't see this album mentioned more often. Maybe
because it lacks a very important part of any Metal record: Heavy guitars.
They are practically drowned in the mix by pompous keyboards and the occational
flute or recorder. Yeah, they're a White Metal band alright. Good guys
don't crank their speakers to 10 and if that don't give them away the
statement on the insert will:
"...Their music and lyrics clearly state
the evil and destructive powers of satan and his wars. The name was concieved
to convey that THUNDER RIDER is the lord's messenger". Songs like
"Death to Death" and "Blackwing" are top-notch Epic Metal anthems that
will leave noone disappointed, but they never come close to the complexity
or songwriting skills of BLIND GUARDIAN or
ADRAMELCH, or the lead-weight
riff quality of MANOWAR or BROCAS HELM. The closest musical comparison
I can think of would be the rather overrated (in my very own opinion)
WARLORD, and at their worst, their infamous countryman THOR. They stay
mid-paced all the way, no speed-songs, which is OK since they keep a dynamic
and variated sound, but in my ears they still lack power. They are like
the metalmusical equivalent of a breathmint - annoyingly fresh. Do I want
the taste of Colgate Ultra in my mouth when I listen to Metal? No. I want
to taste beer, raw meat, blood, guts, tempered steel grinding my teeth
to sawdust!
Personal taste aside,
dressing up in corny Viking-gear that put the aforementioned THOR to shame
- in 1989! - takes some guts, I'll give them that. If you have a serious
epic-fetish and rather listen to Enya and U2 than MOTÖRHEAD or ANVIL,
THUNDER RIDER will blow you away, if not they'll just blow. Get the CD
re-release from here:
http://www.total.net/~trider/main.htm
Believe me or not, but there are not many albums on earth, that simply blow me away after first 5 seconds! But with no doubt it is the one of them. 8 fantastic tracks full of fire, steel and blood, I haven't heard such a great Medieval Epic metal production for ages! Is this a perfect Heavy Metal album? Probably yes, as I really didn't find even one single second on this album, which I would like to remove. If you are dying for MEDIEVAL STEEL, if you worship Manilla Road and their "Courts of Chaos" and "Crystal Logic", or if you can't live without ADRAMELCH's "Irae Melanox", then you will love this album! I'm impressed, surely one of my personal favorites of all times! All hail Thunder Rider!