Band:	Thornbridge
Album:	Theatrical Masterpiece
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	February 08, 2019
A review by:	RaduP

01. Take To The Oars
02. Theatrical Masterpiece
03. Keeper Of The Royal Treasure
04. Revelation
05. Demon In Your Heart
06. Journey To The Other Side
07. Ember In The Winter Grove
08. Trace Of Destruction
09. The Helmsman
10. Set The Sails
11. The Dragon's Sleeping

Last week I reviewed a thrash metal album. Well, fuck it - might as well review a power metal one too!

It's no surprise that I'm not really a big fan of power metal and I generally avoid it as much as possible; by no means would I say I never enjoy it, but that's more of a rare instance. My gripes with power metal are similar to my thrash metal ones, as I think a lot of the established power metal bands that put out albums every two or three years with absolutely nothing new to say are not really justifying their existence and additionally I haven't really heard many new bands that bring anything fresh to the genre. Here come Thornbridge, who also don't bring anything new to the genre, but if they make a fun and engaging record that doesn't sound exactly like most other power metal albums, I might as well put aside my bias. Though that's not such an easy thing to do when a band fucking names its album Theatrical Masterpiece.

Theatrical Masterpiece is obviously not a masterpiece, but it is also one of the best power metal album I've heard lately, though admittedly I'm not one to have much context regarding the genre. Of all the bands out there, they sound most like Orden Ogan, which is also one of my favorite power metal bands, though they're not exactly carbon copies of them. Actually, Theatrical Masterpiece feels a tad more diverse than Thornbridge's preceding debut album and like a step into finding their own sound. This is obviously as epic, as cheesy, as full of noodly solos and choir vocals as most power metal is, but it's also one of the heaviest and tonally darkest ones I've listened to in this un-heavy and un-dark genre.

Despite all the usual power metal shenanigans, the riffs often feel a lot chunkier, the solos more thought-out and the vocals a lot gruffer. Despite not being really that distinguishable, the vocals avoid the powerful-and-high-all-the-time pitfall; thus it feels like there's some actual passion behind it, which only makes the choir behind it feel a lot more larger-than-life and exciting. And indeed, Theatrical Masterpiece does what a power metal album is supposed to do without feeling overly generic or passionless despite them still being quite far away from originality, but also closer than most bands among their peers are. And honestly out of all the metal albums I review this year, this is definitely among the most instantly memorable ones.

This album will not change any power metal naysayer's mind, and my personal gripes with power metal remain unscathed. But albums like Thornbridge's Theatrical Masterpiece remind me that I shouldn't completely give up on the genre and as long as I don't listen to enough to get overly saturated there still is plenty to enjoy in its cheesiness and catchiness.