L-R: Majsan Lindberg, Filippa Nässil, Joan Massing, Linnéa Vikström.
Photo by Volker M. Bruns
Written By Kevin McSweeney
Dirty & Divine is the sixth studio album by Sweden’s Thundermother, and the first for their current lineup, following the departure of three quarters of the previous membership. Only guitarist Filippa Nässil remains from the personnel that recorded their last album, Black and Gold, which was released in 2022. If any member were absolutely integral to the band’s sound, however, it was Nässil herself, with her old-school, bluesy riffing and lead guitar work that is languid in the best possible way. She has ensured her band’s survival in the face of a setback that would have brought many lesser outfits grinding to a halt.
Though the band is Swedish, with the exception of new drummer Joan Massing, they have served up a slice of pure Americana here, with a sound far more in keeping with West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip in the 1980s than the icy, Nordic regions they call home. The album is a celebration of the great sounds and styles that typified American music of that era, and all music inspired by it. It’s a vibrant, feelgood affair that exudes positivity from start to finish, very much indicative of a band determined to put their recent troubles behind them, and look to a brighter future. This mood is very much encapsulated in the opening track So Close, with its motivational, never-give-up lyrical message.
This latest iteration of the band boasts a solid, cohesive rhythm section in the form of Massing, and returning bassist Majsan Lindberg, and is graced by the majestic pipes of Linnéa Vikström Egg. My goodness, what a voice! She delivers a vocal performance throughout that is worthy of the great Ann Wilson, ably backed by sumptuous harmonies provided by her bandmates. These harmonies are very much to the fore in Can’t Put Out The Fire, with an exchange of lead vocal duties between Nässil, Lindberg, and Vikström Egg. Massing’s cowbell work is a constant companion throughout this second song on the tracklisting, bringing to mind Free’s All Right Now, though I can’t help but be reminded of Kiss when the band inquires as to our readiness “…to rock and roll all night.”
Speaking of the Devil is a powerful, defiant number with a message of remaining true of yourself, despite what others might think. It boasts a pre-chorus and chorus of solid gold, and a chanted section in the middle worthy of Somewhere in Time-era Iron Maiden, whereas Feeling Alright sounds like Pat Benetar being covered by All Killer No Filler-era Sum 41, to my ears at least, with its staccato main riff and sunny melodies.
The pace increases somewhat with the advent of Take The Power, where we find Vikström Egg’s vocals at perhaps their most vitriolic. The song fizzes with a punky energy, and the pace does not subside much with the arrival of I Left my License in The Future, an amusing tale of what happens when your desire to drive at high speed is at odds with the willingness of the relevant authorities to allow such reckless frivolity. Whereas Dead or Alive is characterised by some quirky tremolo work that recalls the vintage era of blues guitar.
Can You Feel It? Might share a title with one of the biggest hits by the Jackson 5, but it’s actually pure AC/DC-like stompalong fun, and there’s more stomping to be had, along with clapping, in the We Will Rock You-style intro to Bright Eyes, a song that shares a title with an elegiac ballad by Art Garfunkel but is in fact a soulful, mid-faced celebration of love and lasciviousness.
Final track American Adrenaline opens with and is driven throughout by a propulsive train-style snare beat, similar to Mötley Crüe’s Kickstart my Heart, though an even more apposite comparison would be with The Sweet’s Ballroom Blitz, and particularly the version performed by Tia Carrere in Wayne’s World. The ballroom being blitzed in this case is in El Paso, Texas, and it brings this joyful, Americana-infused album to a close in emphatic style.
This is all great stuff, but what of the downsides? Well, it’s a fairly slender volume, clocking in at less than 32 minutes. There’s many a prog band that can boast individual songs longer than that, but so what? What’s good for Dream Theater is not necessarily good for the down and dirty (and divine). Also, there’s not a tremendous amount of variety on offer, with all ten songs being fairly similar in style, tempo, tone and duration. It’s certainly not diverse in comparison to the wildly eclectic output of multifaceted modern bands such as Sleep Token and Electric Callboy, but again, so what? This is good, old-fashioned rock’n’roll the way momma used to make it, and Thundermother, despite the change of personnel, evidently still do. As they say themselves: “Thundermother don’t just play rock’n’roll; they are rock’n’roll.” I know it’s only rock’n’roll, but I like it.
We at Metal Lair wish the band tremendous success with the new album, which is available as of February 7th 2025, and their extensive tour of Europe from February to April, and happily award Dirty & Divine 4 1/2 horns out of 5.
Dirty & Divine track listing:
01. So Close
02. Can’t Put Out The Fire
03. Speaking of the Devil
04. Feeling Alright
05. Take The Power
06. I Left My License in the Future
07. Dead Or Alive
08. Can You Feel It
09. Bright Eyes
10. American Adrenaline
Dirty & Divine Tour 2025:
07.02.2025 DE Hamburg, Große Freiheit 36
08.02.2025 DE Cologne, Essigfabrik
09.02.2025 BE Sint-Niklaas, Antwerp the Casino
11.02.2025 UK London, The Garage
12.02.2025 UK Manchester, Rebellion
14.02.2025 FR Paris, Petit Bain
15.02.2025 FR Lyon, Le Marché Gare
16.02.2025 IT Milano, Legend Club
18.02.2025 DE Saarbrücken, Garage
19.02.2025 DE Stuttgart, Im Wizemann
21.02.2025 AT Dornbirn, Conrad Sohm
22.02.2025 DE Memmingen,
Kaminwerk, Kulturzentrum Memmingen e.V.
23.02.2025 DE Nürnberg, Hirsch
21.03.2025 DE Leipzig, Hellraiser
22.03.2025 DE Berlin, Festsaal Kreuzberg
23.03.2025 PL Warszawa, NIEBO
25.03.2025 CZ Prague, Storm Club
26.03.2025 HU Budapest, Barba Negra Blue Stage
28.03.2025 AT Wien, Szene Wien
29.03.2025 DE München, Backstage
30.03.2025 CH Pratteln, Z7 Konzertfabrik
01.04.2025 DE Aschaffenburg, Colos-Saal
02.04.2025 DE Bochum, Zeche
04.04.2025 DE Obertraubling, Airport-Eventhall
05.04.2025 DE Hannover, Capitol
06.04.2025 NL Utrecht, Tivoli Vredenburg – Pandora
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