Band:	Thunderstone
Album:	The Burning
Style:	Heavy metal, Power metal
Release date:	January 2004

01. Until We Touch The Burning Sun
02. Break The Emotion
03. Mirror Never Lies
04. Tin Star Man
05. Spire
06. Sea Of Sorrow
07. Side by Side
08. Drawn To The Flame
09. Forth into The Black
10. Evil Within
11. In Sanity [Japanese bonus]
12. Welcome Home (Sanitarium) [Metallica cover] [European L.E. Digipack bonus]
13. Diamonds And Rust [Joan Baez cover] [European L.E. Digipack bonus]
14. Heart Of Steel [Manowar cover] [European L.E. Digipack bonus]
15. Let The Demon Free [demo] [European L.E. Digipack bonus]
16. Voice In A Dream [demo] [European L.E. Digipack bonus]
17. Me, My Enemy [demo] [European L.E. Digipack bonus]

This is the sophomore effort of this Finland Power quintet, and my first look to the music of these guys, I remember seeing their first disc somewhere, but when I found out it was Power Metal, I didn't gave a chance to these guys, I recall I though "Oh, no, another Finland Power Metal band trying to reach the success level of Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica" boy I was wrong.
Anyway, here I have the album and I was very skeptic about listening and liking this Cd? but after a few spins I knew I was unable to resist the charms of The Burning.

With so many Power Metal bands in the scene you've got to be creative in your compositions, and I know exactly were that shows: in the mid-paced songs, I mean, anyone can do a Power Metal song with fast riffs, double bass frenzy and keyboard solos, been there, done that! When I see a band that can compose mid-paced songs with creativity and originality, I know I'm in front of a talented band.

Here you can enjoy yourself with songs like the opener "Until We Touch The Burning Sky" which alternates between fast rhythms and more mellow ones and "Mirror Never Lies" which is the perfect example of an excellent mid-paced song, but hey, still, this is a Power Metal album so we have some mandatory speedy songs like "Break The Emotions" , "Tin Star Man" and "Evil Within" and of course, the obligatory ballad, this time named "Sea Of Sorrow", other of my favorites here is "Drawn To The Flame".

Despite some obvious clichés, The Burning is a damn fine disc, I was impressed by the great vocals, courtesy of Mr. Pasi Rantanen, he has a great voice and the best thing is that he doesn't try to reach those ultra high notes, he just sings the best he can, and let me tell you that he's doing a damn fine job. Another great point is the crisp and tight production, well couldn't be other way if this Cd was produced by Mikko Karmila, the mastermind behind other Finnish bands like Children OF Bodom and Nightwish, Thunderstone wanted the best for The Burning, and they hired one of the bests, that's for sure.

At the end we have a quite enjoyable album, definitively not a masterpiece but is indeed a great album, recommended for any fan of Power Metal who has lost the faith in this genre after listening for the 9'999,987th time another Strato-gamma-ween band.