Thunderstone is a Finnish power metal band created in early 2000 by guitarist Nino Laurenne. The band began as a project for Nino's new songs that he wanted to record. After the first demo, Nino felt like putting together a real band. Mirka Rantanen was playing drums on the first demo and was willing to go on. Bass player Titus Hjelm and Nino were old bandmates from their former band Antidote. With their past experience of fruitful teamwork, Titus was glad to join Thunderstone as a regular member. Next person to join the band was singer Pasi Rantanen who had sung backing vocals on the first demo (Nino sang the leads back then). Rantanen sung backing vocals for Lordi, when they won Eurovision Song Contest in 2006. Titus Hjelm is also known in academic circles: his doctoral dissertation in comparative religion deals with satanism.