Thunder Horse – Dead Alive In Texas
Thunder Horse – Dead Alive In Texas
Ripple Music
Release Date: 05/07/2024
Running Time: 46:15
Review by Gaz Bates
8/10
I was lucky enough to host Thunder Horse in my hometown at a show me and some buddies put on. To promote it, we asked them to send us a video before hand saying how much they were looking forward to playing for us. What we got back was a video of the frontman, Bishop, in a pool in his back garden drinking a beer and living his best life. When I saw that, I thought, “that is one cool dude”.
Hailing from San Antonio, Texas, Thunder Horse have a sound that really lives up to the old saying “Everything Is Bigger In Texas”, and well, this new release is no exception. Live albums can sometimes suffer, as it is hard to capture the live energy of a band on a recording, ‘Dead Alive In Texas’ opens with a monolithic sabbathian riff, ‘Let Them Bleed’ is a sprawling fuzz laden beast, as loud as it is groovy, dropping down to the crowd cheering right before lead guitarist T.C. plays a bluesy melodic solo.
Once ‘Let Them Bleed’ is over Thunder Horse keep the energy up moving into another sonic barrage with ‘New Normal’, before giving way to a small reprieve with a guitar interlude called ‘Remembrance’ serving as an intro to ‘Demons Speak’ another visceral offering from the mighty foursome. ‘Song For The Ferryman’ and ‘Monolith’ bring more gargantuan riffs and Bishop delivers these songs with a certain swagger that gives you sense he means every word he is singing, especially the opening line to ‘Monolith’ – “You Mean Nothing To Me, You’re Just Shit On My Heel’.
There is a certain casualness in the malice in which he delivers this line that will make you wish you could say that to your Boss! Hey, we have all had a Boss we don’t like right? (To my old Boss at an undisclosed Call Centre i worked at in 2012-2015. It made me think of you)… Anyway, moving on.
‘Liver Ad Christ Milites Templi’, which I think translates to ‘The Book To The Knights Of The Temple’ and ‘Chosen One’ lead us towards the end of what is a fantastic performance by Thunder Horse, as riff-heavy as anyone could want, but let’s talk about the bass and drums here (the real heroes of any band). They are so steady through the whole show, locked in and keeping a tightness to the groove and rawness of this show. It is not uncommon for a band to throw in a cover every now and then, and Thunder Horse decided to close this album out with what is one of the finest Rock songs ever written, ‘Ace Of Spades’ by the mighty Motörhead. Managing to put their own spin on this whilst keeping the foundations of the original, which is mainly down to the drums. Johnny Lightning on drums, Philthy Phil Taylor would be happy with what you did on this!
This is as good a live album as I have ever heard. It does not fall flat at any time, it captures the high energy and intensity that Thunder Horse are known for, it is visceral and engaging and honestly I have listened to it six times now and keep picking up on little nuances in the songs. If you like high energy, big riffs and loud music then look no further.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Let Them Bleed
02. New Normal
03. Remembrance Demon
04. Demons Speak
05. Song For The Ferryman
06. Monolith
07. Liber Ad Christ Milites Temple
08. Chosen One
09. Ace Of Spades
LINE-UP:
Stephen Bishop – Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
T.C Connally – Lead Guitar
Dave Crow – Bass
Johnny Lightning – Drums
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Gaz Bates and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
