Thundermother’s fourth album is definitely hot and creates the same euphoric feeling to their fanbase like all previous ones, however adding a more fresh overall feeling to their sound. The album is full of headbanging hits, awesome guitar riffs get stuck on your mind and, even from the very first spin, you remember the refrain of their songs and want to do some air guitaring yourself.
“Heat Wave” proves and solidifies the status of the band from Växjö in the mighty Småland, home of great Swedish bands and musicians. Founder and guitarist Filippa Nässil is the heart, soul and mastermind the quartet, no matter the line-up changes, years passing by and is behind all decisions that have kept the band so fresh, dynamic and always on the forefront of hard rock music.
Søren Andersen, a Danish guitarist, has produced the record and provided a really refined touch in the album, on the vocals, the overall sound which adds up to a fantastic result for the listener. There is a great balance between bluesy tunes, hard rock/heavy metal quality touch and harmonic vocals of a really fine singer, Guernica Mancini, a latest addition to the band, who has already left her mark on the latest 2 records. Bassist Majsan Lindberg and drummer Emlee Johansson have always had high standards in their playing style and provide a very solid and heavy sound to the whole. To my humble opinion, this is definitely a more refined, a more ‘attention to the detail’ album, and also a more diverse one. In the sense that, songs like “Sleep” or “Purple Sky” help the album to be more distinctive and differentiate from previous releases and make it more varied in influences and sounds. Of course, the major thing here is AC/DC, whom the band worships (doing the right thing, hell yeah!), but in their own unique, personal and special way. The songwriting is punchy, bombastic, catchy and makes you open up a beer and enjoy this great album! “Heat Wave” is the perfect example of how modern Hard Rock should sound. And we should give a lot of credit to the band, whose DNA could sum up to this: “High Energy Rock N’ Roll to the bone”!
Skål!
♦ 8/10
Antonis Mantzavinos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyL8pHR2UPk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOW7Z-38cbU
