Thursday 22 August 2013

Moonbow - The End Of Time - Album Review


The End of Time cover art

Moonbow
End Of Time
30th August 2013
CD Baby


The band:

Matt Bischoff - vocals
David McElfresh - guitars
Ryan McAllister - bass
Steve Earle - drums 


The songs:


1. End Of Time
2. Journey Of The Iron Horse
3. Fire Bath
4. Take It For Granted(feat. John Garcia)
5. Octavia
6. Saved
7. Black Widow


From northern Kentucky, Dry Ridge to be exact, Moonbow came about when members of Hank 3, Afghan Whigs, Hermano and Valley Of The Sun got together to record and drink whiskey and beer, basically to have a good time. I'm glad they did because their debut End Of Time is a marvellous release soaked in bourbon, hops and a lot of heavy-ass stoner-infused rock'n'roll. All I want to do when I hear this I want to drink Yuengling and Jim Beam and party until the end of time. Good, good stuff indeed.

When the title track opens up the album I am definitely transported to a remote corner of Kentucky as local folk music comes out of the speakers. But only a few seconds in I'm removed from there and dropped off in a sun-soaked desert somewhere tripping balls fighting cacti like Don Quixote fought windmills. Journey Of The Iron Horse is straight in your face diesel and dust rock of the higher order. Ryan has got his bass sounding like Lemmy's and that works so well in this song. Slowing it down slightly on Fire Bath Moonbow goes more for a jamfest, psychedelic kind of feel akin to Kyuss in parts. It's groovy and filled with oomph allowing singer Matt to shine, and shine he does! John Garcia of Kyuss and Vista Chino guests on Take It For Granted a song he actually wrote. Its a riff-filled monster where Garcia sings the verses and Matt sings the choruses. Me like!

Octavia comes on like an alligator crawl at first. The riffs are big and awesome and then around the 2.40 mark they shift gears and it's destruction time. Foundations are crumbling under their onslaught and the earth is shaking. They continue the same way kind of on Saved. David's solos are very good on this one and as on all songs the riffing is dead-on while Steve is pounding the crap out of the drums. Greatness y'all! Moonbow bow out in the best fashion possible with Black Widow. This is rock'n'roll as it is supposed to be...full speed ahead, full of riffs and enough grit to break into Fort Knox!

This album came as a very nice surprise because sadly I had no idea the band even existed, so shame on me. However, there's no time to sob about that. Go to CD Baby and pre-order End Of Time if that's possible, if not wait until it is released and order it then. Because if you are into great, heavy rock'n'roll this is a must in your collection and Moonbow are too good to be ignored. Buy it, grab a fifth of Jim Beam and get a case of Yuengling and press play...you will not regret it, not even if you have the hangover from hell the next day!

Håkan Nyman

Thanks to my good friend Mona at Platinum PR for sending us a copy to review.

The End Of Time will be available on CD via CD Baby, Amazon + iTunes, the Vinyl will be available on Bandcamp 

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