THUNDERMOTHER – Thundermother

8.5/10

THUNDERMOTHER - Thundermother - 8.5/10

8.5/10

Summary

Despotz Records
Release date: February 23, 2018

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Newly downsized Thundermother return with a self-titled album, the third full length in their four-year history. Only guitarist and founder Filippa Nässil remains, and she elected to not bring in a second guitarist when she was rebuilding the band. What is surprising, but also evident just a few songs in, is how accurately the new crew replicates the sound Thundermother established on the earlier recordings, a sound that is as full and hard-hitting as ever despite not having a second guitar. “Revival”, the opening cut, is well named, another tune demonstrating Nässil’s affinity and fondness for delivering a Young-ian riff. Follow-up “Whatever” may be the best cut of the album, and as a great an example of why Hard Rock bands need to cut loose and record live in the studio more often.

Thundermother get a raw, vibrant intensity in their “live in the studio” songs that would be unlikely to be reproduced with a slower, more careful recording process. That energy is built on precision, though, and not loose playing— Sara Pettersson (bass) and Emlee Johansson (drums) lay down a rhythmic foundation so solid they’d draw AC/DC comparisons even without the riffs. The edges, then, come from the guitars and from Guernica Mancini’s passionate, raspy vocals. Mancini can drop it soulfully, as she does on “Fire In The Rain” and “Follow Your Heart”, or she can belt it out as she does masterfully on pretty much all of the other eleven tracks on the album. Thundermother isn’t quite Let There Be Rock, but it was largely recorded in the same spirit, and that’s the right spirit to keep.

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Thundermother

Author

Daniel Waters

Daniel was a reviewer here at Metal Express Radio. Iron Maiden’s Piece Of Mind wasn’t the first Metal album he owned, but it was the one that lifted the lid off his soul when he received the record as a gift on his 15th birthday. He's been a Metal fan ever since. He's probably best known as the author of various Young Adult novels such as the Generation Dead series and the ghost story Break My Heart 1,000 Times, now also a major motion picture entitled I Still See You, starring Bella Thorne. Writing and music, especially Heavy Metal music, has always been inextricably linked in his mind and career. His first paid gig doing any type of writing was for Cemetery Dance, where he wrote a horror-themed music column called Dead Beats, and when he was writing the first Generation Dead novel he had a ritual where he started his writing day with a Metal playlist that kicked off with “Crushing Belial” by Shadows Fall.
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