With the heavy bluesy opening of the first track 'Grim Reefer', there can be no doubt to the uninitiated what kind of music Norwegian Lonely Kamel deliver on their Dust Devil-album.
The cornerstone of Lonely Kamel's sound is the inspiration that they draw from the very hard rock roots of heavy metal music in its earliest form and channel into the blues-based heavy rock tracks found on Dust Devil. Retro as it is, the album is rich in southern rock groove, pentatonic blues figures, and boogie rhythms. While anchored firmly in the sound of proto-metal acts like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, Mountain and the like, Lonely Kamel incorporate elements from more recent types of hard rocking music and thus the listener might detect some more grungy textures every now and then, and there are also a good handful of quite heavy and doom-ladden sludgy passages to be heard on this release (and some might argue that 'Seventh Son' is an all out sludge metal tune with its focus on slow beats and heavy riffage.
The vocals sound very Jimi Hendrix-inspired, as does the fuzzy guitar distortion. Of course, compared to what seem to be the main sources of inspiration for Lonely Kamel, the distortion on Dust Devil has much more oomph, which is also one of the main contributors of the sludgy nature of the album.
Fans of original southern rock, heavy rock and proto-metal are bound to enjoy this album, and if you like acts like Obrero, Graveyard, Cathedral, Pentagram and Noctum, chances are that you might like this Lonely Kamel album, too.
Track list:
1. Grim Reefer
2. Evil Man
3. Blues For The Dead
4. Rotten Seed
5. Seventh Son
6. The Prophet
7. Ragnarökr
8. Roadtrip With Lucifer
9. Hard To Please
10. Whorehouse Groove