One of the baddest ass guitarist of the early 1970's. Louis Dambra set a new standard of playing long before Frank Marino, Robin Trower, Eddie Van Halen and a host of other shredders going back to the '80's. Check out his phenomenal chops on their debut album Kingdom Come. Sir Lord Baltimore was, to me, the first heavy metal band. Three guys, only three guys created a mind blowing wall of sound.
Their home base was New York City. John Garner was drummer/lead vocalist, Gary Justin on bass and Dambra on all guitars. Listen to Garner a fantastic drummer who also sang lead! Don't know how he did it!
I bought this album back in the early 70's. I don't remember why, but I was probably drawn to the cool cover of a pirate ship made entirely of bones. "Master Heartache", "Kingdom Come", "Hell Hound", "Helium Head", and even the slow harpsichordal "Lake Isle of Innersfree" blew me away. High levels of distortion (even in the bass), multi-track recording and overdubs were way ahead of their time.
Unfortunately they never gained traction along the likes of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Alice Cooper. Their second album "Sir Lord Baltimore" was a complete 180 from "Kingdom Come". They added another guitarist and slowed the frenetic pace of the songs. It's OK, but their debut is definitely the bomb! You can sometimes get both on one CD. Check out their website at Sir Lord Baltimore
Even now I'll pick up and play one of their songs. Just overall great heavy metal music! Later gator! Rob
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