Label: Freya Records
Release date: 5 March 2021
Production: Tom Tee
Album length: 54:04 min
Genre: Heavy Metal
Rating: 8.5/10
The name Thorium calls for a quick intro. No, this time we’re not talking about the chemical element, but about yet another relatively new Belgian heavy metal band, which put out its self-titled debut in 2018. It wouldn’t even be that interesting if three former members of Belgian heavy metal legends Ostrogoth weren’t behind it: guitarists Dario Frodo and Tom Tee and bassist Stripe. By the way, Ostrogoth are still active and rebuilt their lineup with new members after 2017. The three of them were joined on vocals by the excellent Dutch screamer David Marcelis, known for his work in Lord Volture and Black Knight, while Louis Van der Linden (23 Acez) took over the drum fortress.
The band’s debut “Thorium” (2018) kicked up a lot of dust, especially in the Benelux countries and Germany, which was to be expected, but it also put Thorium firmly on the map in the United Kingdom. The second studio album, “Empires in the Sun”, is a triumphant follow-up. Here too, Thorium stay locked in their concrete-solid stylistic groove, taking the best from old-school metal tradition, the N.W.O.B.H:M movement to be precise, as well as the old, ossified form of American speed metal. Compared to the baroquely decorated metal neo-classicists Iron Mask, or the scary ultra-fast theater of countrymen like Evil Invaders, Thorium are definitely their own story. While shamelessly flashing the sharp teeth of their buddy-buddy relationship with old-school metal, they also put plenty of effort into injecting bombast and pomp. But it’s all superbly balanced by the venomously punchy corruption of fast guitar phrasing, which is almost invariably interrupted by guitar ornaments set in thirds. Tradition. It doesn’t work any other way, and it shouldn’t.
The title track is the ultimate approximation of traditional N.W.O.B.H.M. mayhem, which also confirms why both guitarists were able to play in Ostrogoth, but the album as a whole is mapped out on a far grander scale. Especially when the listener runs into the nearly twenty-minute epic suite 1302, built from three parts. If Thorium were a band that had started its career in the early eighties, they’d be considered cult metal legends today. But bands of this revivalist wave are a dime a dozen on the planet these days. Most of them boast exceptional qualities, both in songwriting and especially in technical polish when it comes to executing the material. Sadly, they’re not destined to bask in the glory of their role models, who had their say in the eighties.
The only thing that might throw you on the album is the somewhat unexpected decision to end The Old Generation with a fade-out, but otherwise there’s no point in nitpicking. The opening phrase of Winterfall fleetingly recalls a Queensryche phrase in Breaking the Silence. Although the track draws inspiration from the old school of American speed metal (besides the aforementioned Queensryche, Vicious Rumors and Crimson Glory also spring to mind), it still develops along its own tracks. For the 20-minute epic suite, the band brought in a series of musicians who contributed vocal lines with which Thorium harmonized Marcelis’ lead vocals. It wouldn’t even be worth mentioning in the text if those choir lines didn’t feature, among others, Anthony Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon) and Joe Van Audenhove of Evil Invaders.
“Empiress in the Sun” is an ambitious album by a quintet hungry to prove itself. Hungry for stage explosions, which are currently off limits. So the band approaches the new album like a bloodthirsty beast that has just broken its chains to bring all-out chaos and apocalyptic destruction to humanity. Even though Thorium are traditionally devoted to reheating the craft of old-school metal, they approach everything they do with such incredible wholehearted dedication that they rise above any charge of being generic, or drowning in clichés that might put a listener off the album. “Empires in the Sun” grabs you by the throat right away, surprises with the variety of its arrangements and ideas, fascinates with the excellent chemistry at work in the quintet, and with a grandeur that the superb, thrilling closing epic displays without restraint. This is an album and a band that you absolutely have to check out if you’re a fan of old-school metal’s gains, regardless of where metal’s evolution took place (North America, Europe), as well as all you power metallers and lovers of the penetrating, convincing revivalist storm that’s embodied by a fascinating battalion of new-generation bands around the globe. No. Metal is still here, and here it will stay.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Dreams of Empire (00:53)
2. Exquisite (03:52)
3. Powder and Arms II (03:08)
4. Where Do We Go (03:54)
5. More Than Meets The Eye (04:42)
6. Empires in the Sun (05:12)
7. The Old Generation (04:44)
8. Winterfall (05:15)
9. Itchin’ and Achin’ (03:18)
10. 1302: The Minstrel [part I] (02:09)
11. 1302: The Golden Shadow (13:02)
12. 1302: The Minstrel [part II] (02:15)
Lineup:
David Marcelis – vocals
Tom Tee – electric, acoustic and classical guitars
Dario Frodo – guitar
Kurk “Stripe” Lawless – bass guitar
Louis Van der Linden – drums & percussion
Guest musicians:
Arjen Anthony Lucassen – backing vocals
Benny ‘Zors’ Willaert – backing vocals
Joe ‘Evil Invaders’ Van Audenhove – backing vocals
Anneleen Olbrechts – vocals, backing vocals
