Single Review : Thunder ,The Western Sky

Review by Howard Whitelaw for MPM

Thunder once sang “You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down” and the same has to be said of a good band, no, great band, in fact, by now I think it’s safe to say legendary band that have taken us all by surprise and announced the release of a brand new 16 track, double album.

Dopamine’ is slated for release in April 2022 and it comes hot on the heels of last years “All The Right Noises’ that blew away the lockdown blues.

This is no mean feat when you consider that Messrs. Bowes and Morley also published a book celebrating their 50 years of friendship, undertook a UK tour to promote it and then with the rest of the band, recorded the ‘All The Right Noises’ TV Special and performed a live gig at KK’s Steel Mill, Wolverhampton at what has now become an annual Xmas tradition. So it’s fair to say they haven’t been idle.

Ahead of the album release, the band dropped the lead single ‘The Western Sky’ on February 17^th as a taster of what we can expect.

From the start, you know you’re not going to be able to sit still as the sound we have come to love from one of the nation’s favourite rock bands belts out and this is classic Thunder from start to finish taking up where ‘All The Right Noises’ left off. Luke Morley doesn’t try anything fancy here and by keeping it simple knows he will appeal to the hoards of Thunder fans who will lap it up.

The driving riffs from Morley and Ben Matthews get us up and running with Chris Childs and Harry James in the rhythm section providing a really solid platform for the ever reliable Danny Bowes to come in and provide the perfect vocal performance.

I have always thought he had one of the great rock voices and at an age when many of his contemporaries start to struggle, his voice seems as strong as ever. Morley then adds a soaring solo into the mix which is the cherry on top of a near four minute listening extravaganza.

In short, Thunder give us a masterclass in how to make classic rock and by making it sound so easy, show us they are real masters of their craft.

If this is the taster then roll on April for the release of the album.

‘The Western Sky’ was released on February 17^th 2022.

‘Dopamine’ is released on 29 April 2022 and is available now for pre-order

Thunder line up:
Guitars: Luke Morley
Guitars: Ben Matthews
Vocals: Danny Bowes
Bass: Chris Childs
Drums: Gary ‘Harry’ James

Tracklisting:

CD1 / LP1

1. The Western Sky
2. One Day We’ll Be Free Again
3. Even If It Takes a Lifetime
4. Black
5. Unraveling
6. The Dead City
7. Last Orders
8. All the Way

CD2 / LP2

1. Dancing in the Sunshine
2. Big Pink Supermoon
3. Across the Nation
4. Just a Grifter
5. I Don’t Believe the World
6. Disconnected
7. Is Anybody Out There?
8. No Smoke Without Fire

Product Info:
Double CD Digipack (BMGCAT570DCD)
Deluxe, colour double LP (BMGCAT570DLP)

Preorder the new album ‘Dopamine’ here : https://thunderband.lnk.to/DopamineID

Follow Thunder : Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thunderonline/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thundertowers

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thunderonline/

Website: https://www.thunderonline.com

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3nsMkgM