Metal and punk rock were once mortal enemies, but in the past forty years, the gods of music have brought them closer together, resulting in bands like the powerhouse Thundermother bearing influences from both styles equally. Their new single “Watch Out” has the angst and drive of something out of the hardcore movement with all of the bombast and indulgent distortion of a vintage metal track, but there’s a catch – nothing about their delivery is old school in nature. Thundermother means business, and they’re not looking to play out a retro theme in “Watch Out,” as many of their peers have in recent times.
I like that this song was produced to keep the instrumental componentry as raw as possible, and because of the unfiltered quality here, there’s never a moment that feels artificial or lacking in genuine punch. Thundermother doesn’t have any time for the lagging melodic disposition that a lot of other rock bands have made their creative centerpiece over the course of the past decade, and if you’re interested in a band that plays to the status quo in this genre, their music might not be of great interest to you this summer.
The percussion is pulverizing the riffing in a few different spots, but the band is able to keep up with the thrust of the drums quite well. If anything, these players sound even more comfortable with the pressure in this mix than they would something more relaxed, as has been the case with a lot of rock’s most intriguing acts through the years. They’re not rebranding old fashioned content, but they definitely owe something to the greats who paved the way for this genre through little more than blood, sweat, and tears shed in the studio and on the live stage the same.
“Watch Out” is dynamic and stirring, but more than anything else it feels like the beginning of a great mainstream campaign for Thundermother. They’re not playing with the theatrics that some modern rock bands do, but they’ve got the energy and charisma to fill up an arena-style sound brilliantly – and without sounding like a throwback group, too (which is just as important as anything else here). They’re not quite ready for the next stage of the game, but at this point in time, I would have to rank them above their rivals, many of whom have been around in this business for a lot longer.
