The name of the album is Shit City and the first song on the album is “Shit City”. If that doesn’t prove that Norway’s Lonely Kamel has some balls then I don’t know what will. Oh wait, maybe the music! Speaking of the music, the title track which opens this magnificent opus comes off as a less abrasive Motorhead jam. It’s a sprawling 6-minute rawk-fest that serves as the dirty welcome mat for what’s inside so wipe yer shoes, sit down on the couch and enjoy the tunes!
“White Lines” channels Sub Pop-era Chris Cornell with Pepper Keenan tendencies (Thanks to vocalist/guitarist Thomas Brenna) and has a nice little boogie groove thang going on with some nice guitar wails thanks to Brenna and Lukas Paulsen. “Is It Over” gets bluesy with a ’70’s vibe and could easily fit (Along with “White Lines” and “BFD”) on the soundtrack for Dazed & Confused while “I Feel Sick” just goes for broke with some good old fashioned rawk and/or roll (Oh my gahd, the guitars here!!!)
Other highlights include the jam-fest “Seal The Perimiter” with glistening guitar lines and some tumbling percussive blasts thanks to Espen Nesset while Stian Helle’s galloping bass leads the epic “Falling Down” which bleeds into riff rocker “Nightjar” to close out the album.
Is Lonely Kamel reinventing the wheel with Shit City? Not at all. Are they adding a few spokes to make the proverbial wheel even stronger? Hells yes! And at the end of the day, if checking out a new band like Lonely Kamel causes listeners to track down bands like Kyuss, ’70’s-era Ted Nugent (Please gahd, NOT 2014 Nugent!), Motorhead, and countless others then I say more power to them!
Shit City is out now through Napalm Records. You can get yours here.