THUNDERMOTHER Album Review: “Heat Wave”

THUNDERMOTHER
“HEAT WAVE”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Thundermother are a hard rock band from Sweden formed in 2009 by guitarist Filippa Nassil. The bands debut album, ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Disaster’ was released in 2014, quickly followed by their sophomore album, ‘Road Fever’ in 2015. In 2017, Thundermother underwent a radical line-up change, four members leaving, to leave founder Filippa all on her own. With determination and a desire to carry on, Filippa quickly assembled a new line-up, and released the single ‘We Fight For Rock ‘N’ Roll’ later the same year. The band went on tour across Europe supporting bands such as WASP, Michael Monroe and Danko Jones, culminating in an appearance at the Wacken Festival in Germany. In 2018, Thundermother released their third album, simply titled ‘Thundermother’ – a kinda nod of the head to a new beginning with a new line-up. The band released a new single ‘Driving In Style’ early in 2020, preceding their new album ‘Heat Wave’, which was released in the summer of 2020.

If you’ve never heard Thundermother – you’re in for one of the biggest fucking surprises of your life. The all girl band from Sweden have released their hardest rocking album to date – and I mean hardest. There are touches of heavy rock and heavy metal thrown in to the mix, producing an album that’s gonna appeal equally to fans of rock and metal. Singer Guernica Mancini is in fine form – belting out the lyrics with her blues drenched, and quite frankly, sultry voice, Their recent single release, ‘Driving In Style’, was a thumping party anthem, sizzling with energy, and whetted more than just appetites for this album…

…an album filled with thirteen songs that rocks and rolls its way through the genres of rock and metal – a veritable collection of party anthems and feel good tunes that is gonna make huge waves all around the world. The fifty minute party is all kicked into life with the bombastic thunder of ‘Loud And Alive’ – a rabble rousing romp that is a glorious opening, with the rest of the album just as glorious. The energy levels remain high as the album strides on with the blues soaked ‘Dog From Hell’, and a vocal performance from Guernica just dripping with as much blues and croak as David Coverdale. Yep, her voice is that good… ‘Back In ’76’ is AC/DC related in many ways – both lyrically and musically. The early AC/DC boogie is evident, but Thundermother take it a step further and add more oomph, turning the legends boogie sound into a more ballsy, bombastic and quite frankly beefier sound.

What an opening triple… Just how do ya follow that… With the fast paced and thunderous gallop of ‘Into The Mud’ that’s how… Thundermother really open up and let the sparks fly with the most heavy metal offering on the album, guitars blazing from start to finish. Simply breath taking. Title song ‘Heat Wave’ is a mid tempo barn stormer, and a cracking bluesy boogie blast. The anthemic sing a long chorus screams to be sung along to – and I’m sure audiences everywhere will do so with a high level of passion. And talking of passion, the power ballad ‘Sleep’ has it in abundance. Guernica equally adept at belting out the lyrics to a high tempo high energy gallop, as well as delivering a much more mellow performance at a trot. And the sexiness in her voice…wow! First single released from the album ‘Driving In Style’ is a sizzling and highly energetic, hard rocking party anthem. ‘Free Ourselves’ is another blues based hard rock explosion. With more boogie than the entire AC/DC back catalogue, ‘Free Ourselves’ is a corker, and might just have AC/DC compared to Thundermother…maybe…

Blues, jazz, and the swing of the sixties all combine to deliver the stunning ‘Mexico’. The enticing vocals of Guernica are intoxicating, proving just how good, no, how great a singer she is – Filippa doing well to recruit her into the band. ‘Purple Sky’, the only song out of the thirteen on offer to exceed four minutes in length, is a melodic yet hard hitting stroll of rock. Infectious to the max, ‘Purple Sky’ is one of the many highlights on offer. And oh man, the AC/DC boogie rises to the fore once more with ‘Ghosts’ – a mid tempo thunderstorm of sublime guitar riffage. Back in 2018, I labelled the band as a “female AC/DC tribute band”, which is so far from what Thundermother have matured in to – they are now a “blues based hard rock band”. You’d think with a title ‘Somebody Love Me’, a ballad would ensue, but nope – ‘Somebody Love Me’ is a heavy hitting high paced rocker, with a belting vocal performance by Guernica… And, if she is asking – my answer is yes… (fingers crossed)… Ahem, anyway, we arrive at the final song, ‘Bad Habits’. The most infectious and catchy song on offer, ‘Bad Habits’ rounds off an album that I would recommend to any fan of blues based hard rock.

Overall, a superb album of hard rocking hard rock with strong hints of the blues, ‘Heat Wave’ is hot, and a serious contender for Album Of The Year.

TRACKLIST

Loud And Alive
Dog From Hell
Back In ‘76
Into The Mud
Heat Wave
Sleep
Driving In Style
Free Ourselves
Mexico
Purple Sky
Ghosts
Somebody Love Me
Bad Habits

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