Sounds of Thunder, available now

A selection of seasonal audio tales.

You would be pardonably be excused for looking at the genre audio market and thinking that it’s divided between Big Finish, Bafflegab and Audible – certainly in terms of the material covered on this site. For this I can only plead that we review what is sent to us – other outlets have provided the occasional release and we’ve covered them.

Which brings us to Sounds of Thunder, a company aiming to nurture new talent. Toby Hadoke is the most recognisable name here to general audiences, with sound designer Alistair Lock also gracing many productions over the years.

The collection has a Christmas theme, but the stories themselves vary widely in subject matter (and quality). While the company are to be commended in getting a collection from idea to finished CD, it feels as if the scripts could have done with a bit more work before getting to the studio. There are certainly some intriguing ideas here, but some outstay their welcome (in at least one case, you actually don’t care what happens to the characters, they’re so unpleasant). It’s perhaps telling that there’s no script editor credited on the annual’s website page – moving forward (and there’s more than enough potential here that I hope there are further annuals or standalone stories), an outside overview to help polish may be worth investing in.

Verdict: An eclectic mix of stories that are probably best listened to separately rather than as one compilation. 6/10

Paul Simpson