Thor — Only The Strong

Thor are a wonderfully clichéd and OTT heavy metal band from Vancouver Canada, who have ex body builder and former Mr. Canada and Mr. USA Jon Mikl Thor  as their front man. The band have being on and off since the late 70’s, and have built up quite a cult following, one of theses followers is Circle’s (the wonderful mixed genre and rocking finish band) bass player and Ektro label owner Jussi Lehtisalo  who has reissued a few Thor albums over the last few years. “Only The Strong” was original released back in 1985, and it's prime muscle bound 80’s metal- think Manowar but even more OTT and extremely cheesy too.

The album seems to have somewhat of a vague concept running through it as we start off with the intro track  ‘2045’ which finds a rather hammy male brit actor talking about “ an ancient city of ruins where mutants, demons and demigods roam- the city stands in the year 2045 and only the strong survive there!” ……then we launch into 11 tracks of pure breed 80’s metal which I guess you’d call a highbred of a lot of metal bands from the time- the tracks strut, chant, chug and sometimes brief drop into cheesy theatricals, but for the most part the tracks are mean lean metal cheese machines hitting between just under the three minutes mark and just over the four minute mark a-
piece.

I have to say I’m more taken with “Only The Strong” compared with the bands other output, which was decidedly mixed in musicianship and song quality. The tracks here are much more consistent, memorable and better put together…sure none of it’s re-inventing the wheel,  but for 2nd grade 80’s metal stomping this is an enjoyable ride. For the reissue we get one extra live track, and a nice glossy inlay booklet showing the band in all their cheesy loin cloth and stud wearing glory. So if you have a secret passion for 80’s cheese and chant metal “Only The Strong” is very much worthy of your attention.