I have to say 2005 so far has to me been one of the best years for metal ever! In a world full of manufactured crap, and bands that the ‘major’ record label pay to get plugged, so that we think they are actually worth our support, its refreshing to find that there’s a lot of fantastic music out there waiting for you to discover. As I said its been a great year for metal, its had some blinding moments created by bands that deserve to be huge. And one of those bands are Finland’s ‘Thunderstone’ and their current album is ‘tools of destruction’

‘Tool of the devil’ opens the album, a bass & drum driven scorcher, and with a hook so big you could catch Jaws with it. It’s no wonder that it reached no 3 in the Finnish music charts. It’s a bollox if you think about it, in the charts here we get shit like the crazy frog and girls aloud, the Finns get Thunderstone. In the immortal words of a certain drummer ‘where’s the thinking?’

The album has a heavier edge than their 2 previous releases. Vocalist Pasi Rantanen wastes no time before he shows us his mettle; this guy has a great voice and has no need to jump to vocal operatics, is at times slightly reminiscent of Stephen Tyler- just that bit gravely. The song has sparse riffing and a great solo, which shows that these guys don’t need to resort to galloping horses or 180 bpm to catch your attention, a great song is all it takes, and by track 2, I wanted more. A change in tempo brings us into ‘without wings’ which shows a bit of their power metal roots, but once again a not overplayed and not in your face. I’m sitting here now blasting the cd as I write this with what can only be described as one fucking huge smile on my face. This rocks big time and I mean big time!!

The third track ‘liquid of the kings’ does kick in with a bit of a gallop, a bit of Purple/Rainbow(ish) keys before launching into a raw hard rocker. With this cd the band have definitely spread their wings and moved into new territory and they deserve every accolade hey get with this cd. ‘I will come again’ takes things down a notch leaning towards classic rock territory, and it’s catchy as hell into the bargain. ‘Welcome to the real’ is a slow burner and is the type of track David Coverdale would’ve put out in his heyday. Again no need for overplay and that shows that these guys have gelled as songwriters they know how to play off each others strengths to the best effect of the song. Some fantastic interplay on this song, with a keyboard solo that wouldn’t have been out of place on rainbow rising.

‘The last song’ just hooks you in from its opening and sticks in your head for the rest of the day, blinding stuff absolutely blinding stuff. Hot on its heels is ‘another time’ a ballad that could sit easily on any of those power/ rock ballad compilations. You don’t get a false sense of security though ‘cause guitarist Nino Laurenne rips straight away into ‘feed the fire’ and he really lets rip on the solo. This track is a bit heavier than most over the other tracks on the cd without losing any of the melody, with ‘Weight of the world’ in a similar vein the albums storms on to it’s closing track ‘Land of innocence’ a track dedicated to the late ‘Dimebag Darrell’ of Damageplan/Pantera fame, And it’s a nice tribute, when I die if someone wants to write a song and dedicate it to me I demand that this is used as a benchmark- any potential songwriters/mourners out there please take note!

The limited version of the cd has 2 bonus tracks, an acoustic version of ‘Spire’ from ‘The Burning’ their 2nd cd and yes it does feature an accordion, and yes it does work! This track is from a Finnish radio session the band did, and it’s as catchy as the original, and does great justice to the original. And finally the Queensryche (ish) ‘spread my wings’, from their 1st album; this is a demo version of the track and is a nice addition as a bonus track.

All in all what can I say from this cd apart from if you want a great cd buy it, cause like me you’ll go and buy the rest of the bands back cat, take a chance on a rock band who in all honesty are more deserving of your hard earned readies than 10 velvet revolvers ever will.

Titus Hjelm, Thunderstone’s bass player took the time to answer the mighty www.imarocker.com 10 questions.

Q. How are you, where are you?

I'm great, thanks! I'm in Helsinki enjoying the nice summer weather (at
last!).

Q. What's currently happening in your/Thunderstones world?

We put out a new album in April and did some promotion and shows in Central Europe. Now we're waiting for responses from the US, where the album was released in mid-June. Also, we're negotiating a European tour for the fall.

Q.What has been the best concert by one of your peers you ever attended?

I really don't consider Gene Simmons my peer, but Kiss at Castle Donnington in 1996 (their first make up show in Europe for almost 15 years) was the ultimate concert experience. Aside from that, In Flames has always been a good live band. And they're at least more in the peer category.

Q. What was the first song you ever wrote/performed?

The first song I wrote was something like "Scream of the Devil" when I was 10. We also played it live at a Helsinki city festival and were by far the most successful band that day, hahaha. There's just something irresistible about five 10-year olds headbanging and singing about the devil =).

Q. Do you remember the first place/ time you stepped on stage to play?

That was a school event sometime in 1984 or something.

What happened?

We played "Paranoid", "Smoke on the Water", and "Ace of Spades" to a crowd of shocked parents. And totally without vocals. But we were goddamn loud.

Q. What performer are you in awe of? Why?

Kiss, of course. It is just such a well-honed performance that it commands respect no matter what you think of the music. Of the more "free-performing" bands/performers, Glenn Hughes has always blown me away with his incredible voice and talent.

Q. What would be the high point & low point of your career?

So far the high point was to play in front of 5000 crazed fans in Paris, but I'm optimistic and certain that there will be more high points to come. The low point is every morning after a night of heavy drinking - which on tour is every night.

Q. What is you favorite city/town to have a show in & Why?

It's hard to pick a favorite. In Southern Europe people go wild even if they don't know you very well. That's always rewarding. But in a sense London was a great experience too, because I've always thought that the metal scene was totally dead there. We actually got one of our warmest welcomes there.

Q. If you could do something else what would it be?

I have a "second life" as a sociologist, but let’s not talk about that too much. It undermines my rock credibility too much, hahaha!

Q. What colour is the sky in your world?

Uh... what a trippy question! I'm a positive thinker, so it has to be light blue. And many-colored after fift