Hard Rock from Quebec and in French no less. Yes please! The band is TONNERRE and they are releasing their first album La Nuit Sauvage independently as it should be. The band was formed by a group of friends for 20 years (why did it take so long?) and they are crazy about Hard Rock based on the 70’s. The band is pretty new as this is their first album and they have a handful of live shows only. The singer gives a HEART touch to the sound as you can notice in the first 2 songs “La Nui Savage” and “Le Grand Corbeau”.The production is ok but a little ruff on the edges and this is perfectly understandable as this is their first album.

The band flirts a little with the pop rock of older times as well like in the songs “Ceux qui sommeillent “ ( you have to Google all the song titles) and “La danse du feu” that sounds like something that SURVIVOR would do. The songs are ok but there is nothing too catchy about them and we could use a little more punch on the guitars as they sound a little weak taking the hard out of the rock.  The song “Les enfants de la nuit” seems to be a highlight  of the album in my opinion but the album lacks a little overall creativity on the compositions as it transpires that the band has not lost their innocence yet. The use of very basic guitar riffs also shows that the band is still in its infancy and learning the trade as you can hear on “Les flambeaux du ciel “. TONNERRE also reminds you of the softer California Hard Rock from the 80’s and this does not bring too many good memories.

The band is good and has competent musicians but when you listen to the songs, they are not bad but a little too generic for my taste and it seems that the band just followed dated formulas and used in this album. In regards to the mix itself, you can hardly hear the bass and we could use a little more lows in the mix so the bass can shine. We reach the end of a not much inspired album with “L'aurore” , which is another one that does not create a sparkle unfortunately. The lyrics being all in French does not sound strange to the ears. In Hard Rock, the language is not the issue at all as a good melody or a riff can be hummed in any language. Is the exact lack of a catchy melody, or a creative guitar riff that tells me that they still have a lot to explore still if they want to be noticed. Good effort nevertheless.