Lamont – Muscle, Guts and Luck Underdogma Records Release date: October 11, 2005
Muscle, Guts and Luck, Lamont’s long overdue follow up to 2002’s Thunder Boogie, almost never made it out the gate.
Five of the six songs were previously available on their tour-only EP, but they were bare-bones, knocked-out-in-a-hurry versions. Good for a band that was slowly falling out of the public eye, but not the best representation. So after their tour with Orange Goblin, they reconvened in the studio and re-recorded the five tracks and added a sixth track for good measure.
Then they broke up, right before releasing the EP.
Four months later, they got back together.
Then they re-mastered the album and touched up some parts (and thankfully removing some others).
You’d think with that much fuckery and tinkering, the end results would be an overblown mess, but Lamont’s excesses are really only of the pharmaceutical and alcohol varieties. In terms of music, they’re minimalist thugs who just want to rock. And maybe sleep with your girl.
Of the six songs, the standouts are “Raise a Little Hell” and “Eightball.” The former, with it’s driving bass line and amped up, shout along chorus, ranks up there with “Hot Wire,” their classic from Thunder Boogie. The latter, a paean to booger sugar (“I like blow, don’t you know”), is their take on the rumbling, hell-bent Motorhead formula. All six tracks are equal parts shit kicker rock and head banging metal, with whiskey soaked riffs to spare.
What’s also cool about Muscle, Guts and Luck is the production. Each instrument has equal weight, which gives their songs a strong, thick wall of dirt ‘n’ distortion. This ain’t no lightweight rock. And the studio touches – such as the layered guitar parts and the backing female vocals on “Cannonball” – add to the songs without being overbearing.
Muscle, Guts and Luck may be a studio album, but it’s the closest representation of their live sound to date. As a posthumous release, it would’ve been a fitting end to a band that burned out too early. As it stands, it’s another drunken chapter in the Book of Lamont. Let’s hope they can keep their shit together to record another album.*
- John Pegoraro
* They didn't
_________________ I'm never gonna work another day in my life
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