MAXIMUM METAL
   Navigate: main >> reviews

R E V I E W S

Pink Cream 69 - Thunderdome 2004 SPV - Reviewed by EC

Track Listing
1. Last Stance
2. Thunderdome
3. Gods Come Together
4. Carnaby Road
5. Here I Am
6. That Was Yesterday
7. Shelter
8. Retro Lullaby
9. My Sharona
10. As Deep As I Am
11. Another Wrong Makes Right
12. See Your Face
The German rock sensation known as PC69, or Pink Cream 69 for the faithful, have issued a personal welcome to the "Thunderdome", a classy joint fueled by high-octane, big business hard rock ala Accept, Victory, and the ever important Van Halen.

Fans of Pink Cream 69 will love this new record, simply called "Thunderdome". I always enjoyed this band, whether it was the Andi Deris fronted group of the mid 90s, who unleashed hard rock gems like "One Size Fits All" and "Games People Play" before giving way to the David Readman era, starting with the group's highly acclaimed "Electrified" album, a record that is still considered the Pink Cream ultra-trophy. "Thunderdome" incorporates all things grand and razzle-dazzle, with the high strung six string fury of guitarist Alfred Koffler to Readman's charismatic rock-god chariot from which he unleashes his party-society morning service. This act is top of the class and are destined to be one of the greats, really surpassing all of the 80s hard rock bands at this point simply through hard work and longevity if not sheer wattage and perfectly crafted albums. Pink Cream 69 OWN guitar based modern day rock and roll folks, and there really isn't a damn thing anyone can do about it right now.

"Thunderdome" is just a massive explosion of hard rocking attitude, delivering all of the perfection one needs in a rock record these days while keeping it professional and down to Earth. This is just really classy stuff, ranging from the emotional ballad "That Was Yesterday" to the bombastic high-wire tricks of ""Carnaby Road". Readman keeps it real on all songs, keeping the drama and emotion intact but still letting it fly when necessary. This guy knows how to sing, whether its powerful metal, bluesy ballads, or just rock for rock's sake, and songs like "Thunderdome" and "Shelter" prove all of that and more.

The HUGE guitars are here, roaming all over "Carnaby Road" and "Gods Come Together", with its in-your-face 80s boom that delivers a crushing groove and a chorus that begs to sit with Styx, Queen, and Bad Company in pure melodic grace, a high place reserved for the best of the best, which certainly includes this class act. I love the penning of "Here I Am", making this song one to drive home with on a sunny evening. In fact this whole album can be seen from a summer shore, with the record adding that special summer vibe, roaming the streets with the top down and a blonde by your side, the perfect companion piece for that Friday evening get-away.

I love everything about "Thunderdome" and easily see this one as the band's best work since "Games People Play". Buy or die!

--EC 02.17.04

Maximum Metal Rating Legend - Full Details
5 Excellent - Buy it and say a prayer to the metal gods that you were tuned on to this masterpiece. A classic.
4-4.5 Great - Almost perfect records but there's probably a clunker or a lacking somewhere to keep it from perfection. You won't feel bad about dropping some bones on these.
3.5 Good - Most of the record is good, but there may be some filler. This is the OK range where you'd search for the record on sale or used.
3 Average - Some good songs, some bad ones at about a half/half ratio. Could show skills but be dull overall. Redeeming qualities for indy bands are effort and passion. Majors that don't try or suck outright end up here.
2-2.5 Fair - Worth a listen, but best obtained by collectors. There is much better metal out there.
1-1.5 Bad - Major problems with music, lyrics, production, etc.
0 Terrible or an otherwise waste of your life and time.

Note: Reviews are graded from 0-5, anything higher or not showing is from our old style. Scores, however, do not reveal the important features. The written review that accompanies the ratings is the best source of information regarding the music on our site. Reviewing is opinionated, not a qualitative science, so scores are personal to the reviewer and could reflect anything from being technically brilliant to gloriously cheesy fun.

The best way to determine how much you may like certain music is to listen to it yourself.

Demos and independent releases get some slack since the bands are often spent broke supporting themselves and trying to improve. Major releases usually have big financial backing, so they may be judged by a heavier hand. All scores can be eventually adjusted up or down by comparison of subsequent releases by the same band. We attempt to keep biases out of reviews and be advocates of the consumer without the undo influence of any band, label, management, promoter, etc.


All reviews for this band:
CD
TITLE BAND
DOR
REVIEWER DATE
ThunderdomePink Cream 69
2004
EC2/20/2004



Interviews found from this band:
INTERVIEW BAND INTERVIEWER DATE
Kosta ZafiriouPink Cream 69EC2/13/2004



You may also like:

Iron Fate   |   Heavenly   |   Black Majesty   |   Scorpions   |   Avantasia   |   Mob Rules   |   Nightmare   |   Overmaster   |   Stratovarius   |   Iced Earth   |   


<< back >>




   REVIEW FEATURES
Review Submission
We are accepting guest reviews on a limited basis! Check our form rules for submitting your review to be shown on Maximum Metal--link



Review Status
Find out here what CDs our staff is currently listening to or where your CD may have ended up-- Where is my CD?



Review Walls
See what over 1000+ reviews look like graphically! Note the cover version will need to load lots of small images and is a bit bandwidth intensive.

Text Link Version  .  Album Cover Version


   SITE STATS
Reviews
Total Reviews: 1824
Total Different Bands: 1322
Total Styles: 15
Style List
Reviewer Breakdown



Companies
Total Companies: 402

Top Company Reviews:
Nuclear Blast - 126
Century Media - 89
Candlelight Records - 88
SPV/Steamhammer - 83
Sanctuary Records - 42
Metal Blade - 39
Earache Records - 38
AFM Records - 35
Crash Music - 30
Southern Lord - 27
The End Records - 24
Regain Records - 24

Full Company Breakdown

Company Links



Styles
Total Styles: 15

Breakdown:
Power -
384
Death -
266
Hard Rock - 257
Black - 164
Heavy/Extreme - 149
Thrash - 144
Traditional - 140
Doom/Stoner - 94
Progressive - 91
Gothic/Symphonic - 56
Metalcore/Hardcore - 25
NWOAHM - 24
Nu/Rapcore - 16
Industrial - 14


   LABEL SEARCH
Choose from the options in the dropdown to see the companies that may carry the selected style.


  Copyright Maximum Metal 2003-10