I heard about Thronar a few years ago while looking through the Metal Archives. They were being recommended for their epic nature or something of the like. Luckily for me, Unleash the Fire was due to be released the same month that I found out about them. I went into this album with relatively high expectations based off of the reviews for their debut and these guys did not fail to deliver; this album is amazing.
The album starts off with the song “Prelude to War”, the perfect opener for an album of this style. There is a narration over horns and soft keyboards. Eventually it builds up into the second track, “Shield to Shield”, which is filled with furious blast beats and a great mixture of harsh and clean vocals. After Shield to Shield the album has one great song after another, going all the way to the closer, “Final War (Unleash the Fire)”.
I don’t want to waste your time describing each track because you need to hear this album for yourself. Each song has great qualities to it and has excellent musicianship from all of the members of the band. Each instrument seems to complement each other very well. When the guitars are shredding and the song takes a heavier approach, the drums become furious and much more apparent to the listener. During the slower parts, the keyboards are present and add a nice melody to each of the songs.
The vocals are quite good on this album as well. The harsh vocals are great and the clean vocals are a nice addition as well. When I say clean vocals, I’m not referring to something that you would hear off of a power metal album; they still have a rougher edge to them. The lyrics of the album itself concern battle, fantasy, and history, which is something that certainly does not detract from the value of Unleash the Fire.
Overall I must say that this is quite an amazing album. Since I have unfortunately not heard Thronar’s debut, I cannot say whether or not this album sounds or is structured like the debut. However, I can say that you will not be disappointed if you pick up this album. It’s a great recording from start to finish and is well worth many listens. -Sean Barron
Pantheon E-Zine 