Lonely Kamel – Dust Devil (2011)

Is there something in the water? Or are too many people having drugs and Jim Beam infused benders and then decided to play Southern Rock music? We quite can’t point a finger at it, but tons of bands have decided to play this kind of music with some Metal elements. Lonely Kamel is the next entry in this list, and while hailing from Norway, they still manage to pull it off very nicely.

Since the eloquently titled “Grim Reefer” opening track, the band delivers waves of Southern Rock/Sludge guitar riffs and very engaging vocals. The raspy vocals nicely fit the sound of the music perfectly and remind us of bands like The New Black, Black River, and Chrome Division. “Evil Man”, “Blues for the Dead”, and “Rotten Seed” all keep the same trend of punchy music and witty lyrics, allowing the album to nicely settle following a particular groove.

Things change a bit in the Sludge/Stoner Rock oriented “Seventh Son”, allowing the listener to have a small break and enjoy an even more trippy song. Moving into a Psychedelic Rock style, “The Prophet” was our favorite song since it reminded us of a ‘slower’ version of The Devil’s Blood with different vocals. As you could appreciate, the guitar work is excellent in this release making it sound very authentic and never over produced.

Our second favorite song is “Roadtrip with Lucifer” and it’s super catchy nature. The bass guitar pounds away on this one, nicely following the effective guitar work and creating a Psychedelic/Occult atmosphere. The album closes with the catchiness of “Hard to Please” and the grooviness of “Whorehouse Groove”, both songs are very well placed in this release allowing it to close with a bang.

Is there anything wrong with this release? Probably not, but we feel that the whole Southern/Psychedelic thing is getting extremely overplayed these days. We do enjoy a nice release with catchy guitar melodies and strong vocals, but when all of the sound very similar, we kind of lose interest. However, if you are a big fan of Southern/Psychedelic Rock bands, you will not be disappointed with Lonely Kamel since they are excellent at their trade. “Dust Devil” is definitely an album that any fan of the genre should have in their music collection.

Release: October 25th, 2011

Country: Norway