Thunderbolt - Demons and Diamonds
Massacre Records
Power Metal
12 songs (52'47)
Release year: 2003
Thunderbolt, Massacre Records
Reviewed by Ben

Here we go with another standard fare Power Metal album by Thunderbolt who hail from Norway. I say standard fare because there is nothing on here we haven’t heard before and heard better by other bands out there several years ago. It’s hard to draw the line on bands that are unoriginal in terms of scoring, for example, Steel Attack’s Predator of the Empire is a great cd even though it falls into the realm of, “been there, heard it” because it has a sense of passion and energy (and slick production). Demons and Diamonds is an honest cd, I’ll give it that but today I demand more than just honesty when I listen to new material.

The vocals are the selling point to me because the singer has a great range and sounds like the perfect mix of Bruce Dickinson and Geoff Tate. He creates hooks and melodies with his voice that stay in your head a lot longer than 80% of the guitarwork. Things started off making me expect a bad ass monster of an album with the opener Lidless Eye. Tony Johannesen (vocals) is what keeps the song alive especially with the way he delivers the verses and a rousing “woah oh oh” closing line. With an opener like this I was thinking the rest of the album would be of this high caliber but it wasn’t. The title track has some good riffing but I can’t for the life of me remember much about it at all. The Great Walls of Stone is a little bit better, it has a tad slower pace to it and Tony sings in a different manner, more restrained. It took awhile but finally another song that is worthy of the “Killing Songs” list is here, Days of Confusion. Starting off with the roar of a motorcycle it is just a feel-good metal anthem with again, a splendid vocal performance. Despite the solo break being completely predictable, I knew what was coming a good fifteen seconds before it happened, the singing provides some thick hooks and are what one remembers most long after the song is over with. A few more cool riffs and whatnot are scattered here and there but are unfortunately few and far between until the last killer, Baptized by Fire. Heavier and more aggressive than the rest of the songs on here it also has a driving clunky bass tone to it and I finally feel that the band is putting their heart into this one but by now it’s a little too late to save themselves.

Thunderbolt are not a bad band, just a standard band that need to find that special something to push them out of the pool of everyday groups and out into the open. Despite the fact that I actually DO like Demons and Diamonds, I can’t in my duties as a reviewer give it a rating above the “fair” bracket.

Killing Songs :
Lidless Eye, Days of Confusion, and Baptized by Fire
Ben quoted 64 / 100
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