Lunar Swamp are Mark Wolf (vocals/harmonica/Fx); Machen: (high and low guitars) and S.M. Ghoul (drums) a trio hailing from Catanzaro, Italy who describe their sound as slow, stonerized blues a description hard to disagree with after hearing the bands latest opus "UnderMudBlues"
Slow heavy blues is not a new phenomenon, almost every band that came out of the 60's British blues boom had a slow blues tune hidden in their back pocket as a counter to their more strident songs. A whole album of slowed down blues is however a whole different thing and when you add into that equation unbelievable levels of fuzz and distortion and a vocalist who sounds like he's singing from the bowels of the earth while taking hits from an industrial sized bong well you are talking about something quite different. This is the sound of a band who found their mojo then tried to smoke it, a band who met the devil at the infamous "crossroads" and sold him a bag of exotic herbs. From the delta drenched doomic blues of "Shamanic Owl" to the squeaking finger slides of acoustic closer "Creeping Snakes" Lunar Swamp never try to hide the fact that they are a band steeped in the traditions of a music older than they are. What, however, sets Lunar Swamp apart, from bands travelling along similar blues flecked highways, is that despite all their fuzz and distortion, and that they underpin all their songs with a strong doomic undercurrent, is the fact that these guys have a true understanding and affinity with the music they choose to play.
"UnderMudBlues" is essentially a blues album, maybe not the type of blues album you may be accustomed to, due to it's heavily stoned demeanor, but a blues album nonetheless. A very good one too!
Check it out ....
© 2020 Frazer Jones
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