Thundermother is not a band that you will catch in the act of revolution. But anyway, that's not what we ask our favorite Swedish girls. In truth, the question is not very important because the essential is nestled elsewhere, coiled between the seductive curves of a hard rock which shines as much by its simplicity as by its freshness.
Unchanged, the recipe is simply good. The beauties impart an energy as devastating as communicative and exude a warm charm. If the imprint of the Kangaroos remains prevalent ('Try With Love', 'I Don't You Know'), the influence of the American classic rock makes this time more than flush on the surface of certain compositions, with softer shapes and federative choruses ('Raise You Hands', 'Looks No Hooks'). The tenderness of 'Hot Mess' or the emotion of the terminal 'Borrowed Time' take part of this filiation with the hard US which couples power and delicacy.
Even if this way suits them perfectly, the fact is that the Swedes never show themselves as enticing as when they make the powder speak more than the feelings. In this supercharged register, the roaring vocals of Guernica Mancina take all their strength, all their excessiveness while Filippa Nässil delivers us riffs that make you want to stamp your feet, a cross between Angus Young and Ruyter Suys (Nashville Pussy). Logically, the most turbulent projections are also the most enjoyable, as witnessed by 'Wasted' with its strong rhythmic, a 'Stratophere', swaying and vicious with its guitar soaked in bayous and even more the huge 'Loud And Free', the highlight of the listening, the intro taken from AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck', the scathing vocals and high perched, the six-string in lumberjack mode.
Thundermother will probably never reach the top floor, but it is enough to make us happy. Warm and sweet candy, "Black And Gold" provides a good dose of great rock'n'roll, bouncy and seductive, cut to swallow the miles.