Thornbridge
Theatrical Masterpiece

Three years ago the band Thornbridge released its debut album What Will Prevail, an album that could be described as theatrical. Now, wise from experience they go for a theatrical masterpiece. And in that regard they have started out pretty well with the track Revelation where Andy B. Frank from Brainstorm is a guest singer, it is featured in a radio play in Germany – so it has some theatrical connection already. But compared with the debut I think the artwork is worse, and to call this album a theatrical masterpiece would be an exaggeration of epic proportions – but it is their title and I would not call it a fitting one.

Musically it is power metal of the epic variety, meaning that it is an album of many metal hymns and a lofty use of choirs and that sort of thing. Perhaps it is slightly theatrical. At least the production is good and the vocals are okay as well, perhaps they could have used a bit more variation – like adding something of the ballad end of the scale and less mid-tempo hymns. But they keep the playing time sensible enough to avoid the album feeling too long or too repetitive. The fans they gained from releasing the debut will see this album as familiar in terms of style and I think it could be called a logical continuation to the start they made with the debut. There are no surprises here and while many metal fans see that as a good thing, I tend to think of it as stagnation and you cannot really say that Thornbridge has gone anywhere since the release of the debut album, this is essentially the same thing as they released in 2016.

It is a pretty good album, The Helmsman is a song I like because of the ridiculous catchiness and the stapling of those clichés that makes the epic power metal such a charming genre to behold. But with that said I cannot really think that this album will make much of a mark, as it is like the debut and when I embarked on the journey of reviewing this album, even when listening to it, I could not remember that I had already heard and written about the debut album three years ago. I had to listen to it again in order to compare that album with this new one, and I can’t say that this new one is more memorable. So how should anyone notice this one? What sets it apart? The answer to both questions is I don’t know, or nothing at all.

Theatrical Masterpiece will probably appeal to those who enjoyed the debut album that was released three years ago, and probably to some more metal fans as well. It is quite likeable I think, unfortunately it is not very exciting and therefore it is also quite forgettable and three years from now when I review their next album I have probably forgotten all about this album. To call this a theatrical masterpiece would be an exaggeration of epic proportions so I guess it is rather clever to use it as a title.

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