THOR – Ride Of The Iron Horse (March 22, 2024)

A Vancouver native with a flair for theater and music, Thor (original alias Jon Mikl Thor) is a Norse god impersonator, a semi-professional bodybuilder, an on-stage wrestler, an all-around performance artist (known to bend a steel bar between his teeth), a sometime actor, and a power metal vocalist. Although most heavy metal fans only became aware of him during the mid-’80s through albums like Only the Strong (1985) and Recruits: Wild in the Streets (1986), Thor‘s rock roots date to the early ’70s, when the teenaged winner of the Mr. Junior Canada bodybuilding title parlayed that celebrity into a full-time rock & roll theatrical character based on the ubiquitous Viking god of thunder, releasing his debut, Keep the Dogs Away, in 1977. After 1985’s Live in Detroit, he disbanded his group, but returned to music in 1997, releasing a string of albums that married Viking pageantry and metal. He also wrote and starred in his own musical, Thor: The Rock Opera, in 2010. In 2015, director Ryan Wise released the documentary I Am Thor, which chronicled his rise from athlete to rock god. Thor released Beyond the Pain Barrier and Electric Eyes in 2017. 2019’s Hammer of Justice was followed by 2020’s Rising and 2021’s Alliance. Following two long tours and a short break, Thor issued Ride of the Iron Horse.

Thor celebrated his five decades in music with the Cleopatra release of Ride of the Iron Horse in March 2024. The 15-song, all-original set was composed of then-current compositions and unreleased recordings from Thor‘s earliest years. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia