CD Review:
Thunderwood is a Calgary based 3-piece classic rock band. Members Blaine Herda (writer/composer, guitar, vocals), Dave MacRae (bass guitar, vocals) and Randy McCann (drums, vocals) play music reminiscent of rock bands from the 70s. Deep Purple, ACDC, Led Zeppelin can be seen as an influence to their music.
The guitar work is main attraction of this release. You can't help playing air guitar to the riffs and power chords. But the lyrics lapse into cliche at times and the vocals have their ups and downs.
The CD gets better as it plays through and it would've been wiser to shake up the order of the tracks to have the better songs first. "Love Forever" (track #6), "It's Only Money" (track #5) and the instrumental "Thunder on the Mountain" (track #9) are the best the album has to offer and you have to wade through mediocre songs before you get to them. "Grim Reaper" (track #3) will motivate many to press stop on the CD player missing out on the good stuff that follows.
If you enjoy great guitar work Turn It Up has merits for your listening ear, otherwise this CD doesn't have much to offer. With the aforementioned instrumental "Thunder on the Mountain" rising to the top after repeated listening to the CD, perhaps an instrumental album where Herda and MacRae kick ass on their guitars (backed up with McCann's percussion work) would be the best place for the band to travel the next time they hit the recording studio. Now that would be something that would peak this reviewers interest.
FS Staff