Tuesday 7 July 2015

DOLLAR LLAMA ~ Portuguese sludge with a swampy southern metal edge

Sludge, i've got to admit, is not really my thing but from time to time I like to dip my toe in to its dirty waters  and have a little paddle. It was on one of these little wades through Bandcamp's sludge pages that I came across this little gem from Portugal's Dollar Llama.
Grand Union is an album that gives no quarter, if your looking for something with elements of light and shade, with subtle nuances, maybe a power ballad or some psychedelic ambience then STOP reading now! This is foot to the floor, take no prisoners sludge shot through with a thick swampy southern metal edge. Vocals are raw and full on, bellowed in tune rather than sang but with no hint of accent and avoid going into the arena of black metal guttural by retaining a sense of melody. Musically the band has a looser feel to their groove than say a Baroness or a Kylesa, whose sludge noodling's rely on a tighter more studied approach, that's not to say Dollar Llama's approach is sloppy, far from it these guys can play. This looseness suits the southern edge to Dollar Llama's sound perfectly and when they need to get tight they lock in tighter than a pythons coils.
If you like your music hard, fuzzed to the max with a touch of Lynyrd Skynyrd's twin guitar attack mixed with Planet of Zeus's swampy stoner bite then you will love Dollar Llama.


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