Review: Thundermother – Live’n’Alive

Napalm Records – April 17^th, 2026

Reviewer – Jason Hopper

I’ve been a fan of Thundermother since the release of 2022’s ‘Black and Gold‘ (review here), a fantastic album that I believed had the potential to break the band in the States. Instead, most of the band split and sole remaining member, guitarist Filippa Nässil recruited new band members to continue the tour. That new line-up would eventually release 2025’s ‘Dirty & Divine‘ (review here).  Feeling this line-up represents the best the band has ever sounded, they decided to release ‘Live’n’Alive‘ to showcase what the band can deliver on tour.

Live albums can be hit or miss for me. In a truly live setting, the energy can be unmatched and bring songs to life in a way that studios fail to capture. Other releases fall flat when that energy is lacking. The songs can sound like they were either heavily tweaked in the studio or the band appears to have recorded the album “live” in the studio and added crowd noises.

Unfortunately, the latter applies here. At no point did I feel I was listening to the band in a live setting. You never hear the crowd sing along. At no time does the band encourage a call and return response (a staple at EVERY live show I’ve been to). There is very little interaction and zero crowd presence while the band is tearing it up.

There are two examples I would like to cite that make me feel this album is not truly live. There’s a part in ‘I Left My License In The Future’ where the band stops all instruments and sings the line, “I never had the drive to drive”. All you hear is the vocals and zero noise from the crowd. An odd phenomenon where you would expect to hear something from the crowd.

In another example, the band abruptly ends ‘Whatever’ and the crowd cheers seem to magically fade in way too soon after the song ends. In live settings, there’s usually a half second pause from the crowd. The sonics come to a halt, the crowd feels the physical lack of soundwaves, their brains acknowledge the change in atmosphere, and then they respond with cheers. The crowd response to this song sounds unrealistic.

To be clear, the band does sound great as a unit. I was a fan of singer Linnéa Vikström Egg before she joined the band, and she has a tremendous presence.  I especially loved her delivery of ‘Thunderous’ and prefer this version over the studio one. The band sounds solid enough, but without the energy of the crowd, the listener sounds like they are hearing a rehearsal rather than a show.

You certainly get your money’s worth with a nineteen track album, so it has that going for it. It’s also great to hear their older songs brought to life with a strong line-up. For me, this album is a one and done. For a successful live album, you either need the energy of the crowd or songs that are altered from their studio counterpart. Neither happen here and the album falls flat for me.  I strongly suggest fans of the band check out the album online prior to buying and make the decision for yourself on how “live” the album truly is.

Tracklisting:

1. Can You Feel It
2. Loud and Free
3. The Road Is Ours
4. So Close
5. Bright Eyes
6. Take The Power
7. Dead Or Alive
8. I Don’t Know You
9. Sleep
10. I Left My License In The Future
11. Dog From Hell
12. Can’t Put Out The Fire
13. Whatever
14. Shoot To Kill
15. Try With Love
16. Thunderous
17. Hellevator
18. Speaking of The Devil
19. Driving In Style

Line-up:

Filippa Nässil – guitar, backing vox
Majsan Lindberg – bass, backing vox
Linnéa Vikström Egg – lead vox, guitar
Joan Massing – drums

Web Links:

Official Website 

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