Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The message is loud and clear, all the right noises have been made, and the interferences of the outside world have been subdued, beaten, and vanquished with the air of authority befitting the band, for Thunder have once more stepped up to the stage and returned with an album that makes the heart quicken, makes the mind active, and all in a natural sense, not a quick hit of addiction in which it seems the multitude always require, but a steady, beefy attraction in which the Dopamine is constant, and pleasurable.
We live in an age of visual dependency, we need affirmation when there is no need to dress up our lives, we have forgotten that we are more than a means to a thumbs up, we live only for the tick, for the false heart; we are nothing more than a vision captured by a lens, a photograph for the masses to comment upon.
It is in Thunder’s Dopamine, the band’s 14th studio album, that the neural connections and pathways are given the green light to revel in the music of arguably one of Britain’s finest ever bands. A sound of constant dynamic roar fills the room, but one blessed with a sympathy of expression that perhaps has not been captured in such a fruitful way before.
The history of the band is one of consistency, not one studio album in all the years they have been together has caused any type of disconcertion amongst the fans, and it that consistency, that drive to make each album one that makes the soul embrace life, such a fascination and rock memory.
The double album captures the very heart of the band, endless joy in production, and a confirmation of the ‘writing chops’ so honestly displayed since the introduction of the group to the nation via the debut sensation of Backstreet Symphony, and one that follows through with grace as tracks such as The Western Sky, Even If It Takes A Lifetime, The Dead City, Last Orders, Big Pink Supermoon, I Don’t Believe The World, and No Smoke Without Fire, as they act as thunder’s most poignant friend, lightning…pure untamed but creative and long exposed lightning.
Dopamine is unguarded, ruthless in its beauty, upright, full of reputation, and wearing the clothes to match the grove of the highly regarded. Once more Thunder comes with no warning, and its gravel like tones split the air with drama; the dopamine of pleasure and reward is fully deserved.
Ian D. Hall