#3 - Thunder - Robert Johnson's Tombstone

Thunder - Robert Johnson's Tombstone (Frontiers Italy)
As a big fan of early '90s hard rock, I somehow managed to miss Thunder's debut Backstreet Symphony. Sixteen years after the British blues-based hard rock band made their debut, I've finally heard the band for the first time with the release of their eighth studio album, Robert Johnson's Tombstone. Now, I was expecting something a little bluesier based on the reference to Robert Johnson in the album title, but instead was met with a blast of classic rock in the vein of Bad Company and Led Zeppelin. Guitarist Luke Morley is really the star of the band (rumor has it that David Coverdale once tried to steal him away from Thunder to join Whitesnake) and his huge, stadium-filling riffs shine on tracks like "Dirty Dream" and "Don't Want to Talk About Love". He also plays some down-and-dirty riffs on the AC/DC-ish "The Devil Made Me Do It". Singer Danny Bowes brings in a lot of the blues-based sound with his vocals that remind me, at times, of Paul Rodgers. While I still dig this style of music, I suspect I would have liked this album much better had I heard it 16 years ago. It just sounds too classic rock for my tastes these days.