Album Review: Thunder - Wonder Days

2015 release Wonder Days by rockers, Thunder

Ever come across a release that just completely changes your life and lifts the musical bar to a whole other level? Well if this is what you want to hear, then I would recommend looking elsewhere because you won't find it here. What? Huh? What's the point of this review? I hear you asking! Bear with me on this one and you'll see where I'm going.
Is this an earth shattering, ground breaking release that will forever change the face of music and which will be remembered for years to come? Well OK no it probably won't be BUT if you are looking for an album of rocking tunes that you can sing along to and which will transport you back to when you were a teenager singing into a hair brush or playing air guitar with a tennis racquet in front of your bedroom mirror (which is exactly what this album aims to do) then this release is for you.
The opening lines of the title track with which the album begins are "First day of school they called me a disgrace, They didn't like the long hair" which should give you an idea of what to expect
Thunder have been releasing albums since the early 90's however this is the 1st of their albums I have heard. The riffs are big, the choruses are just as big and the guitar solos are showy without being over the top (no unnecessary Yngwie Malmsteen style wankery to be heard.)
There's the obligatory ballads to break up the pace of the album the 1st one "The Rain" coming just 3 songs into the album is a great little acoustic ditty with added piano and mandolin giving it a distinctly Led Zeppelin feel before picking up again with Black Water a song about a "respectable wife" who's looking for some excitement in her life and decides to run away with a "streetwise seventeen" year old (now that's deep!).
If you are familiar with Thunder you will probably know exactly what you can expect from this release and if you are not familiar with Thunder, well... you will probably still know exactly what to expect from this release. This is rock music for the here and now with no thought of how long it will last which is perfectly fine.
Thunder have achieved exactly what they set out to do with this release which is to deliver footstomping, fist pumping, arena rock. If this is your thing then this is a highly recommended release. You can check their discography to date here in the meantime I'm off to track down some of these said releases.
P.S. if you listen to this and you like what you hear I also highly recommend tracking down the albums by The Union which is guitarist Luke Morley's other band and how I came to discover these guys.