Thunderdikk - Magnum Love Album Review

When was the last time you had fun listening to a band? Real fun. I don't mean sort of fun. I mean the kind of fun that makes you want to stand up (even if you are driving) and play an unabashed air guitar solo or pump your fist at an air audience while singing into your air microphone like you were part of the band. Magnum Love, the debut album from Thunderdikk delivers that kind of fun in an extra large package.

Before we delve into this disc, a word of caution. Thunderdikk is NSFW, Not Safe For Parents and probably not safe for small mammals. There are some overtly naughty themes in their lyrics. Their song titles have words that you wouldn't say in front of grandma. If you played it in front of your mom she would either wash your ears out with soap or run off and become a groupie for the band. Since it would be wrong to throw *** over the titles, you are getting this review uncensored, just as it ought to be. If you aren't easily offended and don't mind hearing about the horizontal exploits of lead vocalist Dikk Thunder, then crank your speakers up and find out why this should be considered the party album of 2011.

Thunderdikk rocks in the traditional five-man formation, with dual guitars for maximum head banging effectiveness. At first glance and listen you might be tempted to say "oh, they're doing an 80's metal shtick". And you couldn't be more wrong, because Thunderdikk plays with more musical talent than two dozen forgotten Sunset Strip hair bands combined. They back up their declaration of being "the last living rock band" with well placed riffage, blistering guitar solos and sing-a-long choruses all packed in songs that you want to hear over and over again. I'm not exaggerating by saying I spun the album three times in a row during my first listen.

Thunderdikk playing The Cat Club - photo Rick Damigella

(Ok, last warning; the Dikk jokes are about to start in earnest). Magnum Love comes loaded with songs the band have tempered in the heat of their live performances in the L.A. club scene. “Bra Off Party On” could arguably be called their break out hit. Snake “Skin” Paladino’s cowbell & drum intro segues into a bacchanalia of guitars and “Heys!” which set the mood for this ode to the body part with more euphemisms than you can shake a… oh you get the point. In what some would call cross-marketing and others would call being smart as hell, the band made this song available on the Rock Band Network for your plastic guitar fingering pleasure.

Other tracks like “I Am The Thunderfukker” and “The Dikk Abides” have an instant earworm factor. Once you hear them it is hard to get them out of your head, but in a great, great way. Bassist Mickey Brunswick gets to pluck off some down and dirty 4-string action in “Nightfire,” the previously mentioned “Bra Off Party On” and (don’t forget, I warned you) “Hot Zombie Fuck”.

(Clearing throat) Yes, you read that song title right folks. I know, I know. It’s ok. It really isn’t as gross as you think. In an utterly filthtastic musical dedication to girls with daddy issues and spider web tattoos who work part time at the mall, Thunderdikk pounds out one of its best numbers with this one.

But let’s set all that aside for a minute. Two things that elevate Thunderdikk well above other bands who play in a similar mode, are its vocalist and lead guitarist. Dikk Thunder is a true front man who knows how to command a stage. By the end of a live performance he and the band can have the entire audience, even people seeing them for the first time, rocking out and having a damn good time.

Sleaze Paladino shredding it up at The Echo in Silver Lake - Photo by Rick Damigella

The second thing is lead guitarist Sleaze Paladino, who has guitar chops that most wannabe axe slingers could only dream of having. He plays with the passion and authority of someone raised in the golden age of metal, but who instead of just emulating his heroes, carved out his own niche in the six-string spectrum. Throughout the album, Paladino proves with his playing that there are still unexplored riffs and solos to be screamed from fret boards; something many of his forebears seem to have either forgotten or eschew for lack of their own creativity.

For a perfect example of his abilities, you need only listen to "Sister Dolores". Now, just ignore the lyrics about Dikk’s school boy adventures with a naughty nun for a minute and let the music sink in. Beyond the killer chord progression put down by Sleaze and rhythm guitarist Johnny Razor, lies a whip-blistering solo which likely left Paladino’s guitar doing Hail Marys in its case after it allowed such sin to be born of its strings.

Magnum Love by Thunderdikk

Thunderdikk is also deserving of kudos for not only putting together an all-killer, no-filler rock album, but for actually making it an album, complete with multi-page liner notes packed with photos, all the song lyrics and thank you's to people you've never heard of but who are very deserving.

And while you, a mere mortal, could never truly fill the bulge in Dikk Thunder's denims, by listening to Magnum Love at appropriately obnoxious volume, you can at least pretend you are for a while, and have the most fun you've had while standing up.

Thunderdikk's Magnum Love is out now and available from iTunes, Amazon MP3 and CDBaby.