Thundermother – Heat Wave

Thundermother
Heat Wave
AFM Records
July 31, 2020
49:24

Thundermother don’t just play Rock’n’Roll. Thundermother are Rock’n’Roll!

I can only confirm these lines from the press release. What the four deliver live is unique. And their previous albums are pure adrenaline. Now the fourth album is released with “Heat Wave”, the second in the current line-up. And there is a novelty. For the first time in ten years of history, all band members worked on the songs. Founder and guitar goddess Filippa Nässil will certainly be relieved a bit. The album was produced by Soren Andersen at Medley Studios in Copenhagen. These are of course the best prerequisites for a worthy successor to “Thundermother”.

Even with “Loud And Alive” the four musicians don’t make prisoners. A straight rocker, where the title is clearly a concept. Filippa Nässil just shakes the Rock’n Blues riffs out of his sleeve and thus puts the bluesy voice of Guernica Mancini in the limelight. The two searched and found each other. The drumming by Emlee Johansson and the pumping bass by Majsan Lindberg also go well with this. This is followed by the casually produced blues rocker “Dog From Hell”. Then Runaway’s memories come up, at “Back In ’76”. A deep bow to the band around Lita Ford and Joan Jett. Huge! The chorus for the title song “Heat Wave” invites you to sing along. A real live cracker. But the girls can also be contemplative. With the ballad “Sleep”. This lives from the powerful blues voice of Guernica. Is a second Janis Joplin growing up here? After rocking away again with “Driving In Style”, “Free Ourselves” stomps powerfully out of the boxes. Thundermother then shows the diversity of influences with the ZZ Top Boggie-styled “Mexico” and in the Jimi Hendrix homage “Purple Sky”.

Thundermother live the Rock’n’Roll. “Heat Wave” is the quartet’s most varied and by far best album. The joint songwriting was definitely worth it. Each of the musicians has brought her musical roots here. And despite all the variety of styles, the album sounds like a unified whole. With “Heat Wave” the band from Sweden should succeed in establishing themselves in the Premier League of Rock / Heavy Metal.

THUNDERMOTHER – Driving In Style: https://youtu.be/gyL8pHR2UP

Lineup:

Filippa Nässil – Guitar
Guernica Mancini – Vocals
Emlee Johansson – Drums
Majsan Lindberg – Bass

Track list:

• 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