Lonely Kamel - Dust Devil
Napalm Records
Stoner Metal/Rock with Doom influences
10 songs (45:39)
Release year: 2011
Napalm Records
Reviewed by Khelek

Lonely Kamel is yet another mostly unknown stoner rock/metal act trying to make their way in the scene, this time from Norway. These guys basically take all their cues from past acts like Spiritual Beggars, Orange Goblin, etc, which is a good thing to some extent. There are some solid, heavy songs on this album that are fun and interesting. However, they end up doing so much that has already been done there isn't a whole lot that stands out to me. Nevertheless it’s a fun album for a few spins.

The first track Grim Reefer (ha ha) makes it extremely obvious that this is a stoner album. There is some slide guitar going on, but it just doesn't do much for me. It's a bit cliche unfortunately and doesn't really stand out. Evil Man does a bit better with quicker riffs. The guitar sound is the usual overdriven, fuzzy crunch that is the standard in this genre. Blues For The Dead slows things down again, once again not a bad song, but once again not terribly interesting either, though I did enjoy some of the bluesy guitar work. The next song that I really liked was Seventh Son which starts off with a slow, creepy lead and the clean vocals of Tomas Brenna. This is definitely the slowest song on the album, and has a decidedly doomy atmosphere. I think it's an indication that these guys are simply having fun and doing what they want to do, not simply trying to fit a mold that has already been made. The Prophet definitely has a more original sounding lead than most of the songs, even if it is a little poppy. The guitar work stands out very well in this song, and perhaps for that reason I do not like all of Brenna's vocal melodies here, but his voice is strong enough so that it is still very enjoyable. The last two tracks I do have to say I found to be a bit over the top. Both of them have distinct guitar work to begin, but the leads used sound so similar to past bands that I quickly wish I was listening to Spiritual Beggars instead. This is also due in some part to the vocals, Brenna uses mostly a cleaner, shouted singing style in Hard To Please, not the rougher, angrier version in the past 3 songs, and I simply don't think it sounds as good. It left me wondering: Do they want to be a real stoner band or an experimental Def Leppard knockoff?

Overall this is a fun album that is genuine, but simply lacks the energy and consistency needed to be really good. I think these guys wanted to explore the different aspects of their sound, and I'm hoping they are learning what works well for them and what doesn't. I think they could definitely go far in the stoner metal genre with some more work on fine-tuning their sound. I especially like some of the slower, doomier sounds they played with in The Prophet and Ragnarorkr. I think stoner doom is one of those genres that is really lends itself to experimentation, these guys just need to find their niche.

Killing Songs :
Seventh Son, The Prophet, Ragnarorkr
Khelek quoted 67 / 100
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