Thundermother: ‘Road Fever’

THUNDERMOTHER
ROAD FEVER
Released on September 4, 2015 (Despotz Records)

Review:
A band’s sophomore album is always really important, especially when the group came out all guns blazing with their debut record like Thundermother did with Rock ‘N’ Roll Disaster back in early 2014. What I really like about Thundermother‘s sophomore effort Road Fever is the group decided to step away from the shadows of their AC/DC influenced hard rock and come up with a heavier record that is still rooted in old school hard rock / heavy metal. It reminds me a bit of Skid Row when the band followed up its stellar self-titled debut album with its heavier even better second record Slave To The Grind.

The opening riff to “It’s Just A Tease” reminds me of an old Twisted Sister track which name I simply can’t recall but the Twisted Sister song likely emanates from their Under The Blade record. Any album that is going to borrow or emulate a classic Twisted Sister riff in the opening seconds is probably going to be a good one in my book. Frankly, Road Fever never lets up until the end with the four last tracks slowing things down a little bit but still rocking. But for the first six tracks, it is pure hard rock bliss with the band adopting a pace similar to early Twisted Sister / Motorhead. Every time I play Road Fever — and I have been playing the record on a regular basis for a good month thanks to an advance digital copy — the first six tracks or so go by in a blur of heavy metal guitar from guitarists, Filippa Nässil and Giorgia Carteri, and raunchy vocals from Irish singer Clare Cunningham.

My favorite tracks on Road Fever are the single and album opener “It’s Just A Tease”, “Alright Alright” which showcases Cunningham‘s vocals quite nicely, the Motorhead sounding “Deal With The Devil” and the Airbourne sounding “Give Me Some Lights”. I actually enjoy all the tracks on Road Fever even when the band slows things down a notch during their last four songs with some more bluesy type stuff.

Rock ‘N’ Roll Disaster may have put Thundermother on the map but Road Fever cements their position as one of the most exciting new bands coming out of Sweden. With two strong rock and roll records already under Thundermother‘s belt, I am curious and intrigued to hear what the band comes up with in terms of its third album.

Track List:
01. It’s Just A Tease
02. FFWF
03. Alright Alright
04. Deal With The Devil
05. Give Me Some Lights
06. Roadkill
07. Enemy
08. Vagabond
09. Thunder Machine
10. Rock N Roll Sisterhood

Band Members:
Clare Cunningham – vocals
Filippa Nässil – lead guitar
Giorgia Carteri – rhythm guitar
Linda Ström – bass
Tilda Stenqvist – drums

Production:
Produced by Filippa Nässil

Band Websites:
Official Website
Facebook
Twitter

Reviewed by Olivier for Sleaze Roxx, August 2015

THUNDERMOTHER – It´s Just a Tease (Official Video)

CLASSIC ROCK/ROCK N’ ROLL / THUNDERMOTHER – It’s Just A TeaseSupport us, buy our music directly:https://thundermother.bandcamp.com/http://despotz.bigcartel….