Luna Sol – Vita Mors
I’m not sure how this band got past my heavy rock radar. Being a big fan of the John Garcia fronted band Hermano, I somehow missed out on this one. Luna Sol from Denver, Colorado, features Hermano and Supafuzz guitarist David Angstrom as the frontman and guitarist. The lineup is rounded out with drummer Zeth Pedulla and bassist Doug Tackett. The band is described as high mountain stoner rock. They released their first album in 2015, entitled Blood Moon and the follow up, Below The Deep in 2017. It had been nearly seven years since Luna Sol recorded new material. The band recently signed with Ripple Music and released their third album Vita Mors, on September 20th, 2024.
The kings of the high desert heavy blues is what the “Introduction” states. Luna Sol has a classic 70’s rock sound infused with modern day swampy stoner rock. The first song on Vita Mors, “Black Cat Callin’” has a ZZ Top/ southern rock vibe to it and is fantastic! Luna Sol has a big, sometimes reverb drenched guitar sound, with a heavy bass and drum dynamic. “Evil (Is On The Rise)” has a catchy rock groove, accented with a raunchy fuzz rhythm. David Angstrom’s vocals have a smooth alto swagger about them and complement the music quite nicely. “Bottom” has that heavy head bobbing induced riff that can’t be denied. The band knows how to deliver the melody also. “Head In A Hole” is indicative of this, combining clean guitars with Angstrom’s low register vocals into a catchy grunge like chorus. Luna Sol boasts two excellent cover songs on Vita Mors also. “Freelance Fiend” from Leafhound and “Never In My Life” from Mountain, both sound great. The band derives their own feel into each song that makes it sound like their own. The tracks fit nicely into the mix with the rest of the album.
“Low N’ Easy” has a heavy and swampy groove that is a stand out. The slow and bluesy flow of the song is very cool. “I’ll Be Your One” goes deep on the distortion and has a melancholy feel about it. Luna Sol recorded this album predominantly live in the studio which gives it a nice raw and organic sound throughout. Another great song on the album is “Surrounded By Thieves”. It’s a slower paced song with a lot of musical nuances infused within, like reverb and flange guitars with swirling noise effects throughout. “No Substitutions” and “Watch Our Skeletons Die” carry on the same heavy groove laden path as the others. The guitar leads on Vita Mors are also worth mentioning too. Angstrom displays a Clapton-esc flavor that resonates perfectly with the riff centric music. “Better Get Runnin’” compounds on all the heavy elements of groove, blues, and rock. It’s another classic sounding track that Luna Sol has mastered in their execution.
The album concludes with a long silence beginning to a sort of a hidden piece called “Time Moves On (With Space)”. After seventeen minutes of silence, the song finally begins. It’s a mellow, acoustic guitar driven tune that is very cool. The song is laced with some nice keyboards and accompanied singing from Angstrom’s daughter perhaps? It’s a beautiful song and a nice closure (minus the seventeen minutes of dead space) to Vita Mors. Overall, I really enjoy this album a lot and have been listening to the other two prior releases also. Luna Sol has a familiar sound quality about them but is in no way a ripoff. Combining the best elements of classic 70’s, southern and bluesy rock, with the heavy fuzz and melody of modern stoner rock, Vita Mors is an amazing album to arrive at in today’s music world.
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/vita-mors
