Thunder Axe - Grinding the Steel

Thunder Axe
Grinding the Steel
My Graveyard Productions
2013
5
Well, this month “Steel” has its honorable mention by the acts of this label so, as you can imagine, we are in Italy and Thunder Axe are filling our speakers with pure heavy metal music. Although the band took shape in 2000 under the name Fiaba & Friends, they soon – about a year later – changed it to Thunder Axe.
 
More than 12 years later, the guys are finally releasing their long awaited (mostly for them) debut album. Heavy metal based on the 80s with Maiden, Priest and so forth influences all over the place. The clichés are more than a fan can handle but in contrast as numerous as the die-hard 80s metal fans want them to be. It’s true that if someone told me that this band is an 80s metal band that didn’t make it and came back today so as to release its debut album I would take their word for it. This is quite a “retro” 80s heavy metal album but not a wannabe one, thankfully! The production isn’t “old-fashioned” at all; neither too contemporary nor polished. It has a 90s orientation and imo it keeps a good balance.
 
Apart from all the above, the major issue with this album is the songwriting which is rather bland. As I told you earlier, the album has many elements of our beloved 80s metal music but it doesn’t excite after a while. The melodies are somewhat flat but the vocals are fine. At large, the album didn’t live up to my expectations…