Moonbow – The End Of Time.

moonbowIf you like stoner rock with demolition ball dynamics like the very best of Kyuss,The Sword and Fu Manchu then the debut album from Moonbow will make your speakers vibrate until they disintegrate! Formed in 2010 by lead vocalist Matt Bischoff,Kentucky based Moonbow have delivered 7 songs that should surely get them signed up. The End Of Time was released on August 30th 2013 and is available via moonbowrocks.bandcamp.com.

What makes the album for me is the bass guitar work from Ryan McAllister. He uses a Rickenbacker and it sounds monstrous in every song,laying a thunderous groove for the thick riffs of guitarist David McElfresh. Album opener End Of Time which has an official video that can be seen on youtube,begins with a deceptive violin,acoustic guitar and handclap intro before the 1st huge riff comes in bringing to mind a slower Breadfan by Budgie. The drums of Steve Earle hammer it home over some tasty wah-wah lead guitar and the soulful voice of Matt Bischoff. His lazy drawl precedes a fiery guitar solo and a bass guitar workout to end the song.

Journey Of The Iron Horse is next,its meandering intro riff leads into a foot to the floor stomper which eases off midway into a heavy blues workout. Fire Bath surges along on a huge fuzzed up main riff with a powerful vocal performance,ending in a distorted jam with echoed vocals. Take It For Granted features the legendary John Garcia,vocalist of Kyuss and Unida. John wrote the lyrics for the song and his unmistakeable style covers the 1st half of the song until Matt duets over some crunching guitar riffs! Octavia is a slow burning blues number which gains momentum for the last part with some lazy guitar lines to finish on.

Saved has yet another big vocal from Matt as a loose main riff weaves throughout his lines backed with some off the wall drum patterns. Album highlight for me is the straight ahead hard rock of Black Widow. It is a short but heavy number with a clean stop/start main riff with a big chorus and has some stunning guitar/bass interplay throughout. A fine way to finish a very impressive debut album!

 

Moonbow line up :-

Matt Bischoff – Vocals.

David McElfresh – Guitars/banjo/fiddle.

Ryan McAllister – Bass guitar.

Steve Earle – Drums.

moonbow band

The End Of Time track listing :-

End Of Time.

Journey Of The Iron Horse.

Fire Bath.

Take It For Granted.

Octavia.

Saved.

Black Widow.

 

About Dennis Jarman

Full time downtrodden album/gig reviewer and part time rock God!