Hailing from Canada, Thunderor is a new band launched in 2020 under the leadership of drummer J.J. Tartaglia who played in Skull Fist. The idea to create his band and take the mic came to him during 2019 and Pandemic gave him the opportunity to launch his project. For his first album, "Fire It Up", he enlisted the services of guitarist Jonny Nesta and bassist Oscar Rangel, who played in Annihilator.
At the sight of the logo and the colored cover, it is easy to guess that the project is anchored in a 80's heavy melodic with some touches of synthesizer bringing an AOR color. Some tracks are in the lineage of Accept or Saxon. The band offers tracks with a drum in front, heavy riffs at the same time fast and involving and soli of high flight quite in the spirit of great guitarists of the 80s. On the vocals J.J. Tartaglia has a rather melodious tone, the choruses are catchy even if a supplement of vocal power would have been nice.
'On the Run', 'How We Roll' and 'Fire It Up' are more anchored in a hard rock that Twisted Sister or Ratt would not have disowned with a catchy side brought by the vocal and a more present keyboard. The commercial side is totally in front on 'Dangerous Times'. Close to Toto and Journey, the track brings the synth to the forefront and sees the band leaning towards a sweet 80s AOR. With 'Cold Tears', the band signs a catchy ballad ending with an epic blast that makes you want to raise your fist.
"Fire It Up" throws Thunderor into the fray of heavy metal band in an interesting way. The album offers a good balance between melodic hard rock, more FM hard and heavy metal and has everything to delight the melodic metal fans.