Thunder and Consolation is the fourth studio album by English rock band New Model Army, released on 15 March 1989 by EMI Records. The album stands as a landmark in the New Model Army catalogue, being their most successful album to date and reaching No. 20 in the UK Albums Chart. It also saw the band gaining new musical grounds as they adopted a more folky sound with the assistance of violinist Ed Alleyne-Johnson. It was produced by Tom Dowd and the band. This was also the last studio album on which Jason 'Moose' Harris played bass. He was subsequently replaced by Nelson on the band's next studio album, Impurity (1990). The title of the album was taken from 17th century British Quaker, Edward Burrough, whose collected works, which were posthumously released in 1663, were entitled The Memorable Works of a Son of Thunder and Consolation.
Far out, this could be a sister album to die Toten Hosen's Ein Kleines Bisschen Horrorschau. That album came out in 1990 so they must have heard this (or there's a mutual third influence). Either way this rules. What a great, unexpected find. Perfect mix of post-punk, slight goth vibes and fantastic melodies. 5/5.
Album cover made me think this was going to be 2000s Metalcore or something. Very solid post-punk. The folksy elements make this stand out from the infinite avalanche of dross that were the original list's post-punk entries.
I’m pretty sure I had this on cassette tape given to me by an Aunt
Good post-punk I hadn’t heard of before
Rating: 9/10 Best songs: I love the world, Green and gray, The ballad of Bodmin Pill, Family, Vagabonds, The charge, White coats
I really liked this! Great album!
I remember a friend of mine at school had a New Model Army album back in 1988. He knew a lot about music. So I've waited 37 years to see what they're about. As I said, he knew his stuff.
This was pretty interesting, not what I was expecting. 4 stars.
This was a fun mix of rock and rock-adjacent genres, kept me going through despite being above an hour in length. That’s a good sign
Solid heavy metal, reminiscent of maybe a littlenearlier era, better than average vocals. Didn't really feel like any serious innovation but hey if it ain't broke.
New Model Army has never been one of my favorite bands and this album did not change it. But opinions differ and it contains solid rock songs (Green and Grey, Inheritance, I Love the World ) with a folky flavor. With all bonus tracks the streaming services are offering it's much too long and these tracks (apart from White Coats) are not very strong. So you should skip these.
A classic folky rock style album that went between English and Irish sounding. Overall it was a decent listen and I enjoyed a few songs thoroughly. They seemed to have a few harder rock songs but to me the folkier songs were their best. Overall it was a good middle ground of a band that was between genres and decades of 80s and 90s style. 6.4/10
Nice easy-listening post-punky album
Great energy, thoughtful lyrics. Stylistically this is kind in the same neighborhood as early U2 or The Alarm, solid rock with folk and post punk underpinnings, but a bit heavier. There isn't a ton of musical variety here for such a long album, which made this a bit of a slog in places. It would have benefited from a serious edit, but overall I enjoyed it. Fave Songs: Family Life, Vagabonds, Ballad of Bodmin Pill, Archway Towers
Real nice
A fun and punchy post-punk album with a real folk influence - like a heavier Billy Bragg. I’ve always like New Model Army’s whole vibe and ethos but other than a handful of occasions this was lacking a bit in the tunes department
Victim of its own excess, enjoyed the instrumentals but this LP fell into the usual British tendency to keep running the chorus instead of letting the song end. Cut 20 minutes off this thing and it could be a lean, mean listen, but as it stands the melodic ideas here get beaten to death and the album tends toward slog territory.
Yeah. Great UK band. I would have gone for The Ghost of Cain (10/10) but TaC is excellent as well: 9/10 for me - I like it a bit more when they operate in post-punk mode rather than folk-rock. On the other hand: the songs on TaC are very strong of course, and this was the first NMA album that I listened to back in 1990 or so.
My new favourite old band. Not the first album to try to meld punk and prog (possibly London Calling?), and not the most commercially successful combination of the two (probably American Idiot?). However, it is an album well worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as those two masterpieces, at least in my opinion. A work of genius, by a band I am looking forward to exploring more fully. An example of the reason I started this whole insane project in the first place, and definitely deserving of inclusion in the book - the only question would be what to drop; I have a few thoughts as some of my other reviews make clear. Thank you so much for the suggestion!!
Has a very late 80's alt rock vibe in the Big Country, The Alarm, The Church sound. The sounds and energy was enough to have me smiling, most of the songs are fun and easy to approach. Maybe a little schlocky in retrospect (e.g. The Charge), but i had a fun time visiting.
Pretty fun! Singer sounds like Danny Elfman. The album is way too long but it keeps moving and I was never truly board/wishing it were over.
September 23, 2025 HL: "I Love the World", "Green and Grey", "Vagabonds", "Archway Towers" très goth, très cool Something that kind of distracted me from the overall experience was the name recognition of Alleyne-Johnson, the violinist featured on this record. I found him in a random YouTube video years ago, where he was improvising over numerous FX pedals in the black-and-white town of Chester, UK. I actually made a point of going to Chester while in the UK, mainly because of how it looked in the background of this random violin video. I bought an Ed Alleyne-Johnson song on iTunes ("Orange") before I ever had a job. 99 cents well spent. Anyway, do I think he positively contributed to the sound of Thunder and Consolation? Well, yes
Cool post punk
A lot of talk over rock. It's just fine but I won't listen to it again.
This is the type of thing I would love to have discovered during my teenage years. Now, it's just fun and nothing more.
Good 80’s alt rock album.
Not terrible, but definitely too long.
Late '80s post-punk that feels somewhat far removed from the post-punk of the rest of the decade. The only comparison I can draw is U2 and even that feels superficial. Has some good moments but otherwise doesn't quite leave much of an impression on me. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: There are other UK post-punk records that I would select before this one.
It's fine but definitely something I've heard similar before. The OG list was full of this kinda stuff where it isn't bad, but not really making any bold choices. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.
This is wholesome, and I find a little bit dull.
UK post-punk again, with some stylings that are giving me some kinda Hungover New Wave flavor. Definitely above average, but not exactly blowing my mind.
This was okay
Meh
Barely 2
Suffers from washed out 80s production
Post-punk, folk rock. Aburrido. Un 2.
Obscure, random, British, 80s. Definitely in line with the main list.
There isn't much to Thunder and Consolation, it's very average folksy easy listening rock that exists, but definitely isn't worthy of a must-listen moniker. 2.
I listened to this album over a couple of days so it felt very long and a bit of a chore. The name New Model Army used to scare me but I don’t know why.
These songs sound like they were made for background tracks on a medieval themed video game.