Despite releasing only one album with 1993’s Afterlife, Blackthorne deserved to be much bigger, despite Kerrang! Magazine‘s assertion that, “Afterlife invites you to bang your head, raise yer fist and holler”, and by Metal CD magazine as, “A collection of big, chest-beating anthems”.
A “super-group”, in the truest sense, the original band featured Graham Bonnet, whose lengthy career includes a successful solo career, albums with Alcatrazz, which had featured early outings for both Yngwie J. Malmsteen and Steve Vai, spots with The Michael Schenker Group, Anthem and Impelliterri, but is probably best known for fronting the mainstream, commercial breakthrough for Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, with 1979’s Down To Earth. Lead guitarist Bob Kulick established himself working with Meat Loaf and KISS. Jimmy Waldo is probably best known for his keyboards with Alcatrazz and was previously in the AOR band New England. Blackthorne‘s line-up was completed by Quiet Riot‘s Frankie Banali on drums.
Work began on a follow-up album, resulting in the first ten tracks featured here. The “lost” second album, Don’t Kill The Thrill demonstrates what a powerful unit Blackthorne had become in a short period of time. The previously unreleased 10 track Don’t Kill The Thrill album has been augmented by no less than 20 bonus tracks, including rare live recordings captured in the States and Japan. Hit Parader Magazine concluded that this was a band with, “A Triple-A rated rock and roll pedigree, Blackthorne is a band that certainly knows everything there is to know about making great rock music.” This expanded collection features liner notes by Malcolm Dome, based on recent interviews with Graham Bonnet and Bob Kulick.
