Scattered Hamlet equates to a Swamp Rebel Machine!

By: Jude Falcon - MSTv Korea EIC

Get ready for a gut punch in the throat and a thrill ride of "in-your-face BAD ASS" hard southern rock music! If you like thunderous drums, thumping bass, ripping guitar solos and sick-ass vocal harmonies, Scattered Hamlet are the band for you. If those attributes are not your cup of tea, you probably won’t make through the first song.

Start up with the song “Battle Hymn;” which bursts open with a drum beat, then just escalates from the opening into pure metal magic. Second song “Whip Poor Will” rockets into the stratosphere with a pulsing fury and touts the best guitar solo on the album; right before a tasty-as-hell breakdown.

The other song that got my attention was the title track “Swamp Rebel Machine,” which opens up with a Legend of Wooley Swamp feel to it, while offering a welcomed but not necessary tempo change to really set the groove and tone of what these guys seem to be about.

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Group vocals remind me of Kevin DuBrow (Quiet Riot) and White Zombie mixed with the drumming of Bonham (Led Zeppelin), coupled with the guitar licks of Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple) and the bass thuds of Joe Bouchard (Blue Oyster Cult).

Producer, Jason Donaghy has crafted a great overall album with a great sound mix and deep grunting edge. Donaghy, known for producing Rob Zombie and John 5, holds production credits to include Pantera, Slayer and White Zombie.

Scattered Hamlet definitely are no slouches in the metal and rock department.  The sounds they put out on this LP evoke feelings of buzz cutting your hair with a flame thrower while snorting a line. The style is new, edgy and reminds me of the first time I heard Mountain through my dad’s stereo.

And while their tunes have way less pop than Black Stone Cherry, Scattered Hamlet are harder than anything Lynrd Skynyrd or The Kentucky Headhunters ever put out.

So pull up the truck, drop the tailgate, get a fire going with a jar of Uncle Jim’s shine and crank it to 11. Scattered Hamlet will sound right at home, I promise.

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