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Thunderhead > Behind the Eight-Ball > 1989, CD, Intercord Ton GmbH > Reviews
Thunderhead - Behind the Eight-Ball

Follow your nose - 75%

Acrobat, June 10th, 2015
Written based on this version: 1989, CD, Intercord Ton GmbH

This was a blind purchase for me (in Northallerton’s premier, and only, vinyl-only record shop, Better Daze); with its £2 price tag and promises of grimy, street-ready heavy metal I knew it wouldn’t let me down… as it turns out I was right. The first part I found confusing was that I understood Thunderhead to be a German band, which is almost right, but which German band of this era had such cocky lyrics and perfect pronunciation? I mean, sure, with his Phil Mogg-esque lyricism and street smarts singer Ted Bullet could have been straight from the streets of New York…

And as it happens he is! See, they’re unusual in that respect; a German band with an American singer thus saving them from goofy, clunky Deutsch-influenced English lyrics (don’t get me wrong, though, I love that stuff). See, whereas Sinner might have had a perfectly confident singer whose English was very respectable and Helloween might have felt that they were astute enough to try their hand at Python-esque humour (bad idea, guys), Thunderhead have the obvious edge… a fuckin’ native speaker. Sonically, too, it’s quite easy to see that this album is American metal with a German twist (Ted Bullet wrote most of the songs here, after all). Nothing exemplifies this better than the ripping title-track; blazing, rockin’ metal like Skid Row at their best – but what about that solo section? It seems like I’m playing a Manni Schmidt era Rage track all of a sudden what with Henny Wolter’s nimble lead playing. It’s pretty unusual for a band of this style to write something so gritty, too, it’s a great song about addiction. The band follows those white lines and delivers an edgy, jittery song reflective of its subject matter. Great lyrics, too… ‘already spent my pay and I don’t give a fuck’.

Stylistically, this is quite typical of its time; heavier tracks are still quite rocky and you’ll still find plenty of references to, say, Thin Lizzy and UFO even when the band picks up the tempo. For instance, ‘Take it to the Highway’ really does just sound like a 1970s UFO song sped up, which isn’t such a bad thing in my book. Like other bands of their time – Leatherwolf, WASP, Saxon etc – the band occupy the badlands between hard rock and heavy metal. They even try their hand at a ballad (as was the custom for every US or German band of this time… and some of them were persistent, too, just think of all Helloween’s awful ballads). Thunderhead, however, fare well here; Ted Bullet’s voice is certainly earnest enough to pull off a ballad and thankfully it’s not about crying in the rain or cowboys who must leave in the morning. ‘Life in the City’, tellingly, is an ode to alienation in the city. The arrangement is very good, too, with one exception; the keyboards! The song would have been better if they’d just let the guitars do their talking (fortunately, you can find live versions where they do just that).

When they’re at their best here they’re really cooking and some tracks here really stand out. On the other hand, however, there’s a fair bit of overly familiar material that doesn’t really add much (a few faceless rockers towards the album’s end). But even then the ho-hum material is delivered with vigour to ensure that it’s still listenable. Make no mistake about it; this isn’t a ground-breaking act by any means but they’re convincing and Ted Bullet is certainly a commanding vocalist. Much like its powdery subject matter, at its best, it’s rather moreish so I’m looking forward to exploring the rest of the band’s discography.