Little Albert - Swamp King

The blues side project of a noted doom metal guitarist? Interesting! While I may not be a huge fan of Italian doomsters Messa, the fact that their guitarist Alberto Piccolo was putting out a blues album was genuinely interesting to me. Most projects in this vein claim to be blues but are not actually, leaning more on a classic rock vibe. What I enjoy here is that Little Albert has clearly done his homework. If nothing else, the passion he has for Robert Johnson or even some of the early Chicago guys like Big Bill Broonzy is palatable.

What we have here is not necessarily straight blues, but rather a mix of doom and blues, and the execution is actually pretty interesting. The band revels in crushing riffs but also Delta licks. While at times the project doesn't quite itch either of those, at others the vision is clearly achieved. This is an ambitious project and one that has a lot of ins and outs. It's a record that I'm not always sure has the sense of forward motion it needs to really stun (I'm looking at you 'Blues Asteroid') but at other moments shows that Little Albert is more than capable of unleashing truly next level heavy blues on the masses.

Swamp King is an interesting release. At his best, on songs like 'Bridge of Sighs' Little Albert is able to evoke swampy sounds and stunning imagery. Other times though it just feels like boring bluesy doom. Little Albert clearly has the skill to fuse his two passions, I'm just curious if the project is given time to mature so that it can be done at the level it needs to be to win over the hearts of fans everywhere. Swamp King is an interesting take on a oft attempted idea and one that certainly bears checking out for fans of both genres.

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