By Tate Bengtson

This is a rerelease of Thor's "classic" 1985 release, Only The Strong. It is a good thing that Thor is the Norse god of thunder and therefore possesses diplomatic immunity to all forms of human law, otherwise I'm sure that he would still be embroiled in a copyright battle with Judas Priest over the excessive "borrowing" of ideas, which could prove very difficult if Thor insisted on lugging his mighty hammer of swinging and smashing, his silver-spraypainted body armor, and metal codpiece through the courtroom's metal detector every morning. Seriously, though, Thor (the band) plays simplistic barroom heavy metal / hard rock that is entertaining in the nostalgic sense, although I'm not sure how much this would offer to younger fans. The vibe is very lighthearted compared with modern music, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and some of the choruses are pretty catchy when they don't devolve into utter cheese. There is nothing amazing on Only The Strong, but it is a fun release of early 80s commercial hard rock / heavy metal that, at the very least, serves as a change of pace. No contact information was provided, so you're going to have to ask Santa to make a special trip to Asgard (mythic home of the Norse pantheon of gods) if you want a copy.

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