Music > Album Reviews

Thundermother-Heat Wave (deluxe edition)

17/05/21

This album is a re-release of the one released in 2020, which can be something of a bone of contention for some people. I suppose you could call it the GOTY edition (if you’re a gamer). So what you get, is the original album, plus a bonus CD of unreleased material.

Now if you have the album already, then buying this may not make a lot of sense to a few of you. Should they just have released the tracks as a separate album? Maybe, but the past year has been difficult for everyone, and the arts have been hit very hard, so the complications involved in releasing a new album may well have swayed the decision somewhat, but whatever the reasons, they can be forgiven when the extra tracks aren’t just some demos that were left on the cutting room floor.

This isn’t some lazy re-release, it’s a full-on expansion on the original. The extra tracks are of equal quality to the original album tracks, and they’re finished and produced in exactly the same way. Whether you have the original album or not is irrelevant, because you absolutely should buy this album. The additional tracks are just stunning. The vocals are reminiscent of one of my all-time favourite female vocalists, namely Sass Jordan.

The second CD sees the band exploring a blues direction which is a little removed from their usual sound, so it does actually make sense to add this to the original release. A drastic change in direction might be too much to take for some fans to take, but adding it as a bonus to an already incredible album could be seen as a stroke of genius.

The second CD ends with a few live tracks, and the outro comes in the shape of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Heaven” which contains riffs that Angus Young must have missed somewhere along the line. It’s AC/DC with attitude. For those about to rock….

9/10