Luna Sol - 'Blood Moon' (Album Review)

By: Victor Van Ommen

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 11/09/2015

Label: Slush Fund Recordings |

Cargo Records

Luna Sol has the material – the riffs, the attitude, and the songs – to be able to stand on their own two feet.  if you’re looking for some burly, tough, guitar driven, American rock music with inviting choruses and a strong sense of melody, then go ahead and slip this disc in your car’s CD player and go for a long drive.

‘Blood Moon’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1.BRIDGES

2.DEATH MOUNTAIN

3.DECEMBER

4.LEADVILLE

5.PRETTY ROTTEN

6.OPERATOR

7.STANDLEY LAKE

8.YOUR WAR

9.IN THE SHADOWS

Luna Sol is:

David Angstrom | Guitar, Vocal

Shanda Kolberg | Guitar, Vocal

Shannon Fahnestock | Bass, Vocal

Pat Gill | Drums

The Review

There’s something real tasty about this brand of rock. I love that stomp borrowed from the blues, the crisp, heavy guitar left over from the ’00 American rock, and then there’s that obvious Desert influence. This is a realm of rock music that is perhaps over saturated so it will take some work if Dave Angstrom wants to stand out from the pack. Read that last sentence one more time. That’s right, Luna Sol is Dave Angstrom’s new band – the man behind Hermano – so even if separation from the pack isn’t in the cards, you know these riffs are going to be USDA approved. Let’s take a listen.

A gentle tapping of a cymbal makes way for a palm muted guitar that instantaneously blows up into the riffy, head bobbing strut of “Bridges.” Not a minute in and the chorus has hit, not two minutes in and it’s hit twice.  Is that John Garcia singing? Nope, but he does make a guest appearance two songs later in “December,” making a Hermano reference obligatory. What’s remarkable is that Garcia’s involvement is not used as a crutch, his appearance could have been done by anyone, really. That’s proof enough that Luna Sol has the material – the riffs, the attitude, and the songs – to be able to stand on their own two feet.

Just one listen and this album will stick. It’s a grower, but not in the sense that it’s complicated music or an acquired taste, but more in the sense that the riffs only get better with repeat spins. “Leadville” and “Death Mountain” both hit with the immediacy of a QOTSA bounce which is a good flip side to the more fluid riffing in a song like “Your War.” Nick Oliveri makes an appearance on “Pretty Rotten,” a song allegedly not about drugs, which if you believe that, then “Standley Lake” is not about a murder. By this point, if shedding light on the Luna Sol party by name dropping Garcia, Oliveri, and QOTSA in combination with “the blues” and “American,” doesn’t pique your interest, then you might as well move on. But if you’re looking for some burly, tough, guitar driven, American rock music with inviting choruses and a strong sense of melody, then go ahead and slip this disc in your car’s CD player and go for a long drive.

Band info: bandcamp |facebook