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It is Epic Doom Metal time and Thunderstorm are here to take us back to the Candlemass days of doom glory! This is full length number 3 from these Italian doomsters and is pretty much the only band I am aware of right now that takes this approach to doom metal. Although the emphasis is quite clearly on capturing the dismal atmosphere through slow and epic riffing like Candlemass used to do, Thunderstorm bring in some power metal influences as well. "Forbidden Gates" for example sounds really out of place. It is by no means a doom song, and could only be described as power metal. It is pretty fast and does not sound doomy at all. I like this song quite a bit, but it just isn't similar to anything else on the album.

Through the course of the disc, the band does speed up here and there but for the most part, Thunderstorm are all about looooooooong and slow crushing riffs and sad and dawdling vocal melodies (although they do repeat the same melodies on some tracks). "Templars of Doom" kicks off the disc, which totally captures what the godfathers of the genre started off with. The song doesn't have a dull moment. As the disc progresses, we get faint hints about the fact that these boys are not afraid to shift into overdrive and throw some speedy riffs and drums in there as well. The cover version for the classic – "Gadda Da Vida" is a little a little weird. The guitar tone is very sharp and the vocalist's accent (or voice) gives it an unusual twist. It is still a decent version nevertheless.

Overall, fans of epic doom metal should like this album. My beef with it is that they drag the same riffs on and on for too long during interludes in the middle of almost every song. It gets annoying…but nothing the fast forward button couldn't handle. Seriously…they have the same riff going on for over a minute and nothing else on some songs. There will be people who will tell me that is exactly what they like about epic doom. Well then, there is another plus for you. Recommended. Thunderstorm have proven themselves to be a damn cool band with this release!