Year : 2013 (Japan Edition)
Style : Melodic Power Metal
Country : Finland
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 125 mb
Bio:
After releasing three self-financed EPs (2005–2007) and having sold them independently all around the globe the band got signed by Austrian NoiseArt Records and its close cohort RTN Touring. As the fruits of this union two formidable and well-loved albums were hatched: “Upon Haunted Battlefields” (2010) and “Anteinferno” (2013). Several successful tours and shows followed, supporting genre greats like Sabaton, Symphony X, Nevermore, Amaranthe, Wintersun, Turisas, Alestorm and Ensiferum.Often likened to groups such as Sonata Arctica and DragonForce, THAUROROD’s music is fast-paced, symphonic power metal, glistening with the kind of catchiness and melodic sensibility that puts the competition to shame. Now celebrating their 15 year career with their massively anticipated third album, THAUROROD is ready to blow the competition out of water and get the recognition they so richly deserve.Their subject matter delving into everything historical and fantastical, THAUROROD returns cannons loaded with 10 songs that will bombard you with melodic lush, choruses to die for and good vibes that will leave you drenched with euphoria. With 15 years of experience of all the good and the bad in the business and a new record company behind them, THAUROROD return, armed to the teeth with a killer album. They’re here to shanghai you to their ship to sail with them. Welcome aboard!Never ones to rush into things, the band have fostered their new album with patience. The completion of “Coast Of Gold” has been a labour of love which is certainly audible all over the album. Expertly produced by the band themselves and featuring Pasi Tanskanen’s grade-A song-writing chops, Andi Kravljaca’s soaring crystal clear vocal delivery, Harri Koskela’s elegant keyboard dynamics and Joonas Pykälä-Aho’s rapid-fire drumming “Coast Of Gold” is an album the power metal aficionados will cherish for years to come. Not just that, now internationally lauded as one of the premier guitarists of his generation, Emil Pohjalainen (co-winner of Guitar Gods Festival 2016 in Miami) and his brother-in-arms Lasse Nyman could surely burn your synapses with their fretboard fireworks, yet for Thaurorod, the song remains king. “Coast Of Gold” takes us seaborne and to lands unknown with unforgettable power metal shanties such as “Power” that blows the wax out of your ears like a sea breeze and tickles the sweet spot of your melodic sensibilities, the impossibly catchy “Cannibal Island” and the inimitable title track that will linger in your ears for days on end. The perfect flipside of their musical doubloon, “Halla” in turn is an ode to winter fragile and majestic as life itself.
Album:
The joy of discovering a new world of adventure in the ever-expanding power metal realm is rivaled by all but one thing, and that is the humbling experience of being proven wrong by a band that seemed destined to fall off before truly getting started. The story of how this came to pass began about 9 years ago when the author of this review was provided a demo by one of the elder statesmen of the Metal Archives from his home nation of Finland. Overall they seemed to have their hearts in the right place, but they had a musical format that was a bit limited and a raucous bass-baritone vocalist who was extremely mismatched with the intended style being conveyed. This band was named Thaurorod, a word based on an elvish dialect in J.R.R. Tolkien's literature, and whether by sheer coincidence or some other unforeseen circumstance they wound up cleansing themselves of every flaw that plagued their early era, though the sheer amount of line-up shifts resulted in about half of the band slots being switched around multiple times.While I have yet to acquaint myself with this band's debut LP Upon Haunted Battlefields, the contents that round out their follow up Anteinferno are nothing short of spellbinding. They've managed to maintain that sort of occasionally quirky and progressive meets symphonic character that was present during their mid-2000s demo material and merge it in with a much more melodically consistent mixture of Iron Maiden and Dragonforce influences to come out with something that is so glorious in character that it rivals Blind Guardian for the title of premier purveyor of Tolkien-inspired power metal. The resulting style of this album could perhaps be best likened to a number of newer bands on the Sonic Attack label such as Phoenix Rising/Fire & Ashes and Victorius, though perhaps an even more apt comparison would be to the earlier works of the Ukrainian speed machine Conquest. This latter comparison is perhaps most apt as newly recruited vocalist Andi Kravljaca sounds like a perfect amalgamation of Conquest's first couple of singers, though the general pacing and keyboard usage also play into that speed metal oriented character that defined both Endless Power and Frozen Sky.In typical epic fashion, this is an album that listens like a continuous conceptual story, though lyrically there isn't a predetermined concept but rather an underlying theme of heroism and conflict. Things begin on arguably the highest note possible with a brief piano introduction followed by a lightning fast thrill ride in "Planet X", listening like a more elaborate and Helloween infused answer to Conquest's debut album opener "I've Seen You In My Dreams". This heroic brand of speedy melodic goodness is echoed on "Victor", and likewise occurs with a slight bit of Michael Romeo inspired lead noodling on "Path". Things get a little bit more reserved in tempo, while the orchestral bombast and rhythmically mixed up progressive detailing heightens on "Riders Of The Shires" and "Overboard", but this same sense of dashing forth into battle is still heavily present during the chorus sections. The remainder of what is found on this magnum opus tends to lean a bit more towards a mid-paced groove, though it never quite morphs into an all out prog. affair, though the longer epic number of a title song "Anteinferno" gets close while still resorting to classic Iron Maiden melodic hooks during various points of cadence.Thaurorod, ye proud power metal soldiers or times bygone, ye ambitious set apart from the rest of the ambitious, I entreat thee to accept my apology for all but writing you guys off during my younger days as a metal reviewer. Humble pie is a dish that I will learn to love every time it is dished out by you from here on out. This is truly, without a doubt, one of the most well put together efforts in the style to come about in the past several years and should most definitely put this band on the map. In the tradition first hinted upon by the principle character in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's epic poem "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" (adapted to the metal medium by Iron Maiden no less), I do therefore, duty bound, advise all with a love for the symphonic-tinged power metal that has been an item since the early days of Rhapsody Of Fire to check this band and particularly this album out. Now kindly excuse me while I proceed to observe the most painful rituals associated with the medieval heretical sect of Flagellators until my shame leaves me.
Line Up:
Andi Kravljaca - Vocals (2012-present) - See also: Aeon Zen, Nibiru Ordeal, The Chronicles Project, ex-Elsesphere, ex-Seventh Wonder, ex-Silent Call, ex-Gryphon
Lasse Nyman - Guitars - See also: ex-Dotma
Emppu - Guitars (2002-present) - See also: Amberian Dawn, Epicrenel, ex-Nailed Coil, ex-Dotma
Pasi Tanskanen - Bass (2002-present)
Harri Koskela - Keyboards (2012-present) - See also: Embassy of Silence, Lost in Grey, ex-Dotma, ex-Star Insight
Joonas Pykälä-aho - Drums (2002-present) - See also: Amberian Dawn, Azaghal, Epicrenel, Hautakammio, Lathspell, Lost in Grey, Sawhill Sacrifice, Wyrd, ex-Dotma, ex-Atheme One (live), ex-Humavoid (live)
Tracklist:
01. Planet X [04:35]
02. Heart Of The Lion [03:32]
03. Overboard [03:56]
04. Far From Home [03:57]
05. Victor [03:40]
06. Marked For Diablo [04:09]
07. For The Rose To The Grave [04:03]
08. Anteinferno [10:05]
09. Path [04:18]
10. Riders Of The Shires [05:00]
11. Japskin Syyla [04:09] (Japan Bonus Track)
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