Sunday 4 July 2021

Lunar Swamp - Moonshine Blues (Album Review)

 

Release Date: July 02nd 2021. Record Label: Various. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl


Moonshine Blues - Tracklisting

1.Muddy Waters 05:51

2.MoonBurst Smoke 04:47

3.The Redneck Squatch 05:55

4.Old Ben the Gator 05:28

5.Cross Swamp Blues 05:31

6.Sweet Sue (Witch Cover) 08:04


Review


Moonshine Blues is the debut album from Italian Blues/Stoner/Swamp Rockers Lunar Swamp and the band have already impressed the Stoner Rock Community with their previous releases. This time they go even further on this album with the the band focusing on a “WO-FAT” style sound with the massive Swamp based grooves but the guys then take a left turn by adding a more dramatic vocal style with a 70s seedy Classic Doom Sound being in the background. The Stoner Rock/Metal atmosphere is vaguely distorted which Lunar Swamp shows throughout the stunning opening track - Muddy Waters.


The album runs for a compact 35 minute running time and is the right length for Lunar Swamp to flex their creative muscles along what Doom/Stoner Metal spectrum with the band still adding an almost “Occult Rock” flavour on the later stages of the album. 


Lunar Swamp have a lot of fun on this record and the Blues Rock part of their music is the “glue” that holds everything together and they do bring a more aggressive and heavier style of music to songs such as MoonBurst Smoke, The Redneck Squatch and Cross Swamp Blues. 


Some of the songs can be quite similar to each other but Lunar Swamp have more than enough tricks up their sleeves to let this become a problem and it’s the fantastic music that saves the day. WIth the record having an excellent mix of classic, vintage and modern day grooves. The final track is a stunning rendition of WITCH classic - Sweet Sue with Lunar Swamp not veering far from the original but it works and leaves the album on an exciting DOOM METAL based finish.


Lunar Swamp debut album is a seedy and entertaining ride into the more swampier side of Doom/Stoner Metal and it’s one we don’t really hear much these days and lets hope Lunar Swamp will be around for a long time to come and release high quality records such as this.

 

Words by Steve Howe


Thanks to Lunar Swamp for the promo. Moonshine Blues Is available from the links below:


CD out for The Swamp Records (USA)
VINYL out for Clostridium Records (Germany)
TAPE out for Burning Coffin Recs (Chile)

Links:


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