Monday, December 17: Thunderstone, “Dirt Metal”
Thunderstone would likely be remembered for offering yet another way to use “thunder” in a band name had they not briefly recruited Rick Altzi to sing on Dirt Metal. Altzi was a relative newcomer at the time, having only recently joined the similarly inclined At Vance, and would leverage his work with both bands to ultimately join Masterplan. But in the meantime, “Dirt Metal” made good use of his grittier style of singing, allowing the Finnish outfit to distinguish themselves from countrymen Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica and livening up their traditional power metal sound with a touch more aggression. In that respect, “Dirt Metal” lived up to its title, for even though the track had all of the precision associated with power metal, it also had a layer of grime thanks to Altzi’s Dio-esque growl, and was all the better for it.
