PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
[/media-credit]Seven Thorns are a Danish power metal band that were formed in 1998. This is their second album – their first being the 2007 release “Glow of dawn”, although legal issues that affected it’s release mean that the band describe this new album “Return to the past” as the first “real” Seven Thorns album.The album is produced by the Danish producer Tommy Hansen, who best known for his work with Helloween.
The album kicks off with “Liberty” – a superb track full of great guitar work – a great piece of Helloween-style power metal. As with the whole album the song is driven by the guitars, drums and vocals. While there are keyboards used they are fairly low down in the mix and help fill the sound out while allowing the guitars to be the main focus whether it be in the form of great guitar riffs or the solos.
“Forest Majesty” starts with a beautiful, gentle slow melody on the keyboards, then after around 30 seconds the guitars kick in and the only slow part of the album is over.
Despite the Helloween and Gamma Ray influences, Seven Thorns are not clones of these bands – they bring their own influences as well to produce something that is inspired by Helloween rather than being a copy.
After listening to this album quite a few times in the last couple of days, I can say that this is a great album that will appeal to a lot of power metal fans. If you’re a fan of Helloween or Gamma Ray in particular then do yourself a favour and listen to Seven Thorns – it’s well worth a listen.
Rating: 8/10
Seven Thorns are:
Erik “EZ” Blomkvist (vocals)
Lars “Laske” Borup (drums, backing vocals)
Nicolaj Marker (bass, backing vocals)
Gabriel Tuxen (guitar, backing vocals)
Christian B. Strojer (guitar, backing vocals)
Asger W. Nielsen (keyboard, backing vocals)
Mik Holm (backing vocals, composer)
Guests: Mikkel Henderson (keyboards), Olaf Lenk (guitar solo on “Liberty” & “Return to the Past”)
Track listing:
1. Liberty
2. End of the road
3. Through the mirror
4. Freedom call
5. Countdown
6. Forest majesty
7. Spread your wings
8. Fires and storms
9. Return to the past
