A rule of thumb I use when browsing through record store racks or perusing the internet for new music is if something has good artwork or an interesting title .....check it out. If it has both ...buy it.
Ok this does not always work and over the years I've ended up with a few turkeys but when it does work, as in the case of Blood Diamonds' Death Valley Blues, its a lovely feeling that leaves you with a big smug grin on your face.
Death Valley Blues contains seven blood pumping tunes of heavy sludge grooves flecked with elements of prog-like intensity and bluesy stoner swagger. Songs like "Killing Patrol", "Compulsion" and the excellent title track are jammed full of complex rhythms, intricate guitar solos and prog-like time signatures. Don't think though that Blood Diamond are all technique and no substance, these guys rock and they rock HARD! Guitars riff on overload, distorted and dirty, circulating around the solid throbbing rhythms like sharks around a wounded seal, darting in to deliver a killer lick or a scintillating solo always moving,never still. Vocals throughout Death Valley Blues are delivered with clean raw passion and feral intensity but remain on the right side of brutal maintaining a clarity that allows you to actually hear the lyrics. Both musically and vocally this album ticks all the boxes.
Blood Diamond have in Death Valley Blues created an album that will not only please us
stoners and doomers that already inhabit the underground scene but might just appeal to some of those standing on the edges looking in.
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