Thundermother is the Swedish female rock band that I’ve taken to with much fondness over the last couple of years. They’ve been a regular feature here, and they seem to be getting better and better.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Thundermother
ALBUM: Heat Wave
LABEL: AFM Records
SERIAL: AFM 767-2
YEAR: 2020
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Sweden
LINEUP: Filippa Nassil – guitars * Guernica Mancini – vocals * Majsan Lindberg – bass * Emlee Johansson – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Loud And Alive * 02 Dog From Hell * 03 Back In ’76 * 04 Into The Mud * 05 Heat Wave * 06 Sleep * 07 Driving In Style * 08 Free Ourselves * 09 Mexico * 10 Purple Sky
RATING: 90/100
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
This is a female rock band that I’ve taken to with much fondness over the last couple of years. They have been a regular feature on this website, we’ve reviewed a couple of their previous albums and they seem to be getting better and better.
Prior line-ups of this Swedish band gave the impression they were an unsettled bunch. That seems to have been put to rest now, the line-up being fairly stable over the last 2 or so years. They are now Thundermother V 3.0. Also, they have been picked up by German label AFM after spending their early years with Swedish label Despotz Records. Good signs indeed.
L-R: Filippa Nassil (g), Majsan Lindberg (b), Guernica Mancini (v), Emlee Johansson (d)
The Songs
Musically, the girls continue their belt-out rockers in the vein of AC/DC, Airbourne, Girlschool and Rock Goddess, though played with a touch more tempo and energy. All the pre-requisites for a great live band. Whatever the case, ‘Heat Wave’ makes for an entertaining listen from start to finish.
Thundermother punch the clock with the immediate rocker of ‘Loud And Alive’, a beer swilling anthem that will make a good companion with your favourite pint. The anthems keep coming with the hint-of-blues ‘Dog From Hell’, describing what ‘love’ can mean to some people.
Gotta love the title of ‘Back In 76’, a stomping rocker which might be a tribute to an outfit like The Runaways, though this one also has a smidgen of Billy Squier‘s classic ‘The Stroke’. The tempo is ramped up for the excitable ‘Into The Mud’, like a milder version of Motorhead, including a Lemmy styled bass cameo from Majsan Lindberg.
The title track ‘Heat Wave’ is the slow bruiser of the album, ‘Sleep’ which follows next is the album’s ballad. These two provide some respite before TM storm back into it with the excellent ‘Driving In Style’. This is more like it.
You can’t help ignore the ‘Thunderstruck’ guitar riffs opening up on ‘Free Ourselves’, on this one you can see where the AC/DC comparison comes from. ‘Mexico’ is a rollicking sort of tune, bluesy guitars and rolling drums set the scene without a cactus in sight.
The regular album concludes with the slinky cool of ‘Purple Sky’, this is something I could see Alannah Myles doing.
In Summary
This album consolidates Thundermother’s reputation as a hard rocking band with something to offer audiences. For mine, they sound perfect when the pedal hits the floor, but they avoid being one-dimensional by flipping into styles to break things up. Read our earlier reviews (tag below) or check them out if it’s your first encounter with these Swedish gals.
Video
Driving In Style
Dog From Hell
