The Lords Of Altamont – The Wild Sounds Of The Lords Of Altamont – Album Review
Turn on, tune in and drop out....
Having a name directly linked to the Rolling Stones’ ill-fated Altamont Speedway concert in December 1969 – a day that has gone down in history as being part and parcel of the death of ‘The Summer Of Love’ – gives you some idea where the four bad asses who make up The Lords Of Altamont are comimg from.
Fear not though, as there’s no flights of hippie-whimsy to be found on the lads fifth album, just eleven tracks of authentic sounding garage rock/psych rock. So, if you’re looking for heavy metal, then you can jog on….because you will not find it here!
Right from the get go, this album comes across as the perfect soundtrack to a debauched night in a bar, located on some Californian desert highway; think Easy Rider but set entirely in the shithole biker bar from Terminator 2.
Everything about The Wilds Sounds Of The Lords Of Altamont is a musical love letter to the tail end of the 60’s and the beginning of the 70’s and it’s imbued with a warm analogue sound, courtesy of producer Paul Roessler (The Screamers, Twisted Roots, 45 Grave, Nervous Gender, SAUPG, Geza X, The Deadbeats).
Musically, there’s a definite nod to Steppenwolf and vocalist Jake “The Preacher” Cavaliere does a pretty decent impression of Steppenwolf vocalist John Kay. While there’s not a bad song to be found on the album, it takes until tracks five and six, namely “Evil” and “(Ain’t No) Revolution”, for the psych aspect of their sound to kick in and for the band to completely cut loose. The combination of reverb drenched guitar and farfisa organ eventually bringing the music to delirious new height and recalling a less heavy, early period, Monster Magnet.
The Lords Of Altamont are by no means an original band but goddamn is this album great fun and about as close a recreation of the authentic sounds of the early 70’s as you can get!
To steal a well known quite from the time, “Turn on, tune in and drop out”. 7/10
Out October 6th on Heavy Psych Sounds
Pre-sales began on September 1st
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