THUNDER – Release double album Dopamine

British hard-rockers Thunder have just released their latest album – Dopamine – a year after 2021’s excellent All The Right Moves. Dopamine is a double album [2CD / 2LP] boasting 16 tracks, with lots of variation. Rockers like opening cut “The Western Sky”, “All The Way”, “Dancing In The Sunshine” and “Across The Nation” – the latter 2 should make for great live cuts – upbeat with a cool riffs, lyrics that seem to mark a return to good times. Thunder’s appeal is not just the rock tracks, because this is all full of big rockers, but it is full of awesome different tunes, use of different instruments, thoughtful lyrics (topics dealing with social media and the effects of the pandemic], and excellent production. Among the album’s best are acoustic tracks like “Even If It Takes A LIfetime” and “Unravelling”, as well as the blues ballad “Big Pink Supermoon”. Early faves – “No Smoke Without Fire” and “Last Orders”. Lots to dig in here, so if you’re in to this band (or just good ol’ British classic rock) you’ll find lots of interest here.

Press Release:

‘Dopamine’ is Thunder’s first ever double-album, and consists of 16 tracks. The first single, ‘The Western Sky’, is available now and you can see the video at the top of this article.

Guitarist, songwriter and Thunder co-founder Luke Morley says: “’We didn’t set out to make a double album but as the writing and recording process went on we wandered into some interesting areas and then it became a case of ‘can we afford to leave any of this off?’ In the end we did reduce it from 20 tunes to 16 but it wasn’t an easy choice.”

‘Dopamine’ was inspired by the world’s mass retreat to social media during the pandemic lockdowns, endlessly hunting for the next hit of happy hormones.

“I read a fascinating article by an American psychologist,” says Luke, “who said that social media forces us to become dopamine addicts. We’re validated and liked on social media, which releases the dopamine – and so we get addicted to it. We take more and more selfies in the hope of more and more validation, and the album cover reflects this. People are surrounded by amazing things that they’re missing because they’re so self-obsessed. Of course, you’ll have to get your hands on the physical album to see all of the amazing things I’m referring to.”

The new album comes at the perfect time for Thunder, whose line-up for the last quarter-century and more has been Luke and Danny Bowes (singer), plus Ben Matthews (guitar and keyboards), Chris Childs (bass) and Harry James (drums).

They’ve been riding a wave of success since their 2015 comeback album ‘Wonder Days’ and releasing the acclaimed ‘All The Right Noises’ last year.

The album will be available in CD and double LP vinyl, with exclusive lenticular cover versions available only from the Thunder online store.

Thunder will also embark upon a UK arena tour in May 2022, including a date at London’s OVO Arena Wembley.

The track listing for ‘Dopamine’ is:

CD1 / LP1