Welcome to the review!
No, don't be fooled by the cover. This isn't a Testament or Alter Bridge album; it's by Thunder. You know, Thunder; the band that gave us "Love Walked In" and a pretty mediocre cover of "Gimme Some Lovin'"? They're a fairly obscure outfit that have existed since the late 80s primarily due to their sound being too bland to really make a splash anywhere other than specialist Rock radio. Don't get me wrong, I do like this band to an extent. Laughing On Judgement Day is a great album but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who strives for variety in their music and on the subject of variety (or rather "lack of"), let's talk about Rip It Up.
You might expect me to say something like "I was expecting something really heavy due to the album cover and song titles", as I have done on quite a few reviews and yes, whilst the album artwork does suggest something a bit more fierce than Backstreet Symphony or Wonder Days, I'm not going to get my hopes up when it comes to a band like Thunder that are most comfortable trotting out generic Rock. Between the tepid album opener "No One Gets Out Alive" that sounds like the band wanted to try something with a bit of energy but couldn't follow through and bland Blues Rock title track "Rip It Up" that felt more like a group of old friends casually jamming than attempting to produce a decent lead single, my low standards were just about met.
One positive thing I will say is that these two songs set the tone for the rest of the album perfectly. It's safe and boring, just like The Rolling Stones and Creed. You can hear good riffs and talented musicianship but none of it really rocks, it just sounds like incidental public domain Rock music you hear on adverts or TV shows. Some hack critics may refer to this music as "Dad Rock" but I strongly disagree; to call this "Dad Rock" is an insult to bands like Deep Purple and Motorhead that generally populate Father's Day compilation albums. If anything, this is Tosspot Pubgoer Rock; the sort of music that's enjoyed by that one tit at your local who always bangs on about how great Joe Bonamassa and Bruce Springsteen are*.
There are other tracks that sound like failed attempts to write Hard Rock such as "Shakedown" with heavier guitar/bass but are held back by the tame vocals from Danny Bowes (yes, THAT Danny Bowes!!!!) and drumming from Gary James, more on him in a bit. There's also "She Likes The Cocaine", no prizes for guessing what the lyrics are about. Usually songs about wild women and drugs have some kind of backbone but the music completely undermines the lyrical themes cancelling out anything this song could've had going for it and leaving you feeling absolutely neutral whilst listening to it. Some songs manage to get the correct balance and sound alright ("Heartbreak Hurricane", "The Chosen One") but only when you've been exposed to the tracks before it. Take them out of the album, compare them to any other modern Rock song by contemporary or ageing artists and chances are they'll fall flat.
When it comes to Rock, the bar has been set relatively high now and Thunder simply aren't able to reach it. However, when it comes to Blues Rock, Thunder can happily coast along in the passable territory of the genre with tracks like "In Another Life" and "Tumbling Down". The main reason for this is due to the limited talents of their drummer, Gary James. Whilst he may have been decent in the band's early days (and let's face it, he was no Chad Smith), Gary James lacks the ability or maybe just the stamina to take the band further with faster music and more complex rhythms. He's adept at playing basic beats so that's what the band are stuck with and even then, he can fuck it up.
"The Enemy Inside" could've been a belter, especially with the guitar riffs and vocals heavily inspired by The Who ("The Seeker" and "Relay" respectively) but the tempo needed to be double time instead of the usual slog of a speed. Then there's the album closer, "There's Always A Loser", a track that gets progressively heavier across the board with electric guitars being introduced over halfway through...at least it should get heavier if Gary James didn't start off with a John Bonham "Kashmir"/"When The Levee Breaks" rhythm that remains constant throughout the entire track. He should've started off simple, THEN pounded out those heavier beats to give the song more velocity as each band member gets into it.
Unlike most Rock albums, the second half of Rip It Up is actually stronger than the first and despite all the shit I've been giving it, the album doesn't contain many real fuck ups outside of weak percussion and vocals (YES, THAT DANNY BOWES!!!!!!). If Thunder were younger, they probably would've injected more passion into it but it's clear that they can't play heavy music anymore, begging the question as to why they'd bother trying in the first place. Ultimately the whole album is a weak entry into the Hard Rock genre, especially with bands like Black Star Riders and Rival Sons putting out high quality material on a fairly frequent basis.
I give this album a 3/10 and wouldn't really recommend it to fans of proper Rock music. Blues Rock enthusiasts/boring bastards might enjoy some tracks but I think it's time for Thunder to either adapt with the aid of a producer capable of pushing musicians to their creative and/or technical limits or bow out gracefully on their own terms. I say this based entirely on their studio efforts, not live performances. Maybe the band kick ass on stage when fuelled by thousands of cheering fans but if they can't bring at least a sizable fraction of that energy into the studio with them, they may as well not bother.
* "Bruce plays on stage for up to three hours at gigs!" Yeah, three hours of Bruce Springsteen songs. That's probably equivalent to one hour of Meat Loaf now shut the fuck up and get back to draining your fourth pint.
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