Review: Hammerdown – Thunder
From the Legacy Desk I sit and have another release to pontificate about. Falling squarely in that traditional old school heavy metal arena Hammerdown is a power trio from Central California, the township of Freedom specifically.
Not familiar with Hammerdown you say? Well I wasn’t either until asked to review this release. From some of their online sources they claim particular inspiration from heavy metal royalty specifically Judas Priest and Iron Maiden with perhaps a twinge of Motorhead thrown in for good measure (perhaps a vocal comparison?).
Their most recent release was unleashed in May of 2025. Entitled “Thunder” this is an 8 song affair. With some solid production elements, the instruments are all cleaning recorded and mixed well. Having said this all the tracks are fairly mid tempo so one shouldn’t expect a ‘Freewheel Burning’ or ‘ Aces High.’ The speed throughout is pretty mid tempo which isn’t a negative.
The 5th track entitled ‘The Valley’ is of particular note. A biographical tale of the hard life of the grandfather of Walt Combs, guitarist and vocals. Some solid guitar work and a haunting melody. It’s one of those songs that fans wait for all night y’know, the slow build and then when the band plays it. Pandemonium… A slower grinding dirge that is powerful and unrelenting. The album highlight in my opinion.
The title track ‘Thunder’ brings another old school riff and drums pounding. Bassist Dion Colucci (formerly of Sovereign Cross) delivers a solid groove here and lays it down. Another strong power tune that should’ve been the album opener in my opinion, fantastic guitar solo.
It should be pointed out that all of members of Hammerdown are quite capable musicians. Drummer TT Townsend delivers some solid stick and pedal work throughout this release. He and Dion seem to lock in quite well together. The rhythm section here is SOLID.
Make no mistake this is old school heavy metal. The hooks aren’t always obvious and takes a few spins to catch on and these days when people don’t often want to take the time to dig into something that can be challenging.
I will say for myself on the first spin it left me a little wanting, I wanted it to grab me and pile drive me into the ground (well maybe not pile drive me but deliver a knock out punch) and this release is a bit of grower.
If your attention span is microscopic this might not be a hit for you. However if you will spin it 3-4 times some of those tracks will definitely start to ingrain themselves with you.
As an aside there appears to be a previous release called ‘Rescue Me’ that was released 4 years ago or so. However I can’t find really any information about that release. The last track on this album is a re-mix of the title track from that last album ‘Rescue Me.’ A solid straight ahead metal track that is a banger!
Those who are wanting Gospel Filled old school Heavy Metal then this might be your jam right here… From the Legacy Desk until next time…
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Official Website www.hammerdownheavymetal.com
Email hammerdownwc@gmail.com
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