All I Want

Thunder – All I Want

Germany stacks up another great 80’s heavy metal act. Thunder is damn obscure, and yet another in the seemingly endless stream of top-notch 80’s acts to only amass a puny catalogue: one full length. This release however, may very well pack enough Judas Priest inspired speed metal infused song-writing to make up for that.

I particularly enjoy the first two tracks on this album, and they blew me away a bit on the ol’ headphones. I was particularly impressed by the somewhat simplistic, yet ‘high-speed’ nature of them. Reinforcing the bands moniker, this vinyl opens with a distinct rumbling of the skies, whipping into breakneck speed Judas Priest (and I mean Heavily Judas Priest sounding) Metal. The vocals of this guy on the first two tracks are incredibly Halford inspired. For comparison, check out Tyran’ Pace (another German speed metal act worth snapping up). Anyway, even the solos on this one echo early 80’s Priest, with twin guitar trade-offs taking place underneath soaring vocals with somewhat of a self-titled lyric going on, which I always love, especially when it’s somewhat indirect. Raven continues the high-speed assault, but takes a turn for the NWOBHM. Slightly weaker than its predecessor, it is still one of the standouts, delivering plenty of almost Motorhead-ish punch on guitar.


While these ones are no holds barred thrillers, the third track, ‘All I Want’ slows things down and ventures into boogie inspired gang vocal infused anthem territory “All I Want……is rock n roll!!!!!” Great drinkin’ party anthem, with a heavy NWOBHM presence. Pretty straight forward number, with no real song-writing genius, but as good as any middle of the road NWOBHM anthem.

More depth in feeling is evident in tracks like ‘Stop Cry Out’, with some buzzing riffage, under an emotional punchy riff almost in the vein of Thin Lizzy; again real NWOBHM-y. not to fond of the chorus on this one, and it doesn’t showcase the vocal talents that are displayed recklessly in Tracks one and two. For some reason, this track reminds of me of Steeler (US), the Steeler with Malmsteen on guitar. A bass lead can also be found on this one.

Track five is a fairly lacklustre ballad heavily entrenched in 70s pop-rock. Quite emotive, but nothing too special here. This stands in stark contrast to the very Krokus sounding (especially the intro) effort in the following track. Another high point in my opinion, with a heavy metal title, ‘Beheaded’ is a rough-and-tumble NWOBHM cruncher bringing to mind everything from Battleaxe to Avenger to the almighty Priest. In one of the later choruses, vocalist Wolfgang Schorer again raises his pitch to a Halford-esque level, furthering the songs intensity.

The remainder of the tracks pick things up a bit, being a bit more solid. The track positioning, though pretty good, seems to leave a bit of a lull in the middle, which may not work so well with the more discerning listener. The unimaginatively titled ‘Heavy Metal’ is a speed/heavy metal number with all the major hallmarks. Standouts include the dirty attitude with which the vocals are delivered. There’s some effective backup harmony on vocals (courtesy of I’m not sure who) underneath much of it too, which work well. Another rocker is ‘Listen to Heavy Metal Thunder’, which I quite enjoy on the headphones walking through the city. It’s at that punchy walking pace, with classic 70’s Priest sounding riff-ery which is upbeat and may conduce head banging. More NWOBHM comes through on the vocals here.

In what I would deem a pretty damn good, but not overly great album, Thunder moulds together a decent cocktail of NWOBHM, 70’s hard rock (think contemporary Priest, Germanic speed metal, with many strong points. In many ways, Thunder deserves a larger audience on the strength to deliver this mix like few others. The vocals, while fairly strong throughout, are best displayed in tracks where he raises pitch to a Halford sounding delivery. This ones definitely got smatterings of boogie/NWOBHM rock which are enjoyable and not thrown in too often. With it’s speed metal infusion, and twin guitar driven sound, I’m sure this act is heavily Priest inspired, much like many of their contemporary German counterparts. Another good album from the year of my birth, Thunder’s ‘All I Want’ is well worth a listen.