Black Mountain - Old Fangs
Black Mountain - Rollercoaster
I don't know what I would do without Rock and Roll. Sometimes I forget just how amazing it is, and then you listen to an album like this and you can't help but appreciate the genre all over again.
A brainchild of Stephen McBean who is also know for Pink Mountaintops, Black Mountain is a fairly productive band having released 3 LPs and 2 EPs since 2005, with all of the albums doing very well in critical reviews. The sound can best be described as a mix of psychedelic, stoner, and space rock and everything else that would be inclusive to those genres as well, which in the end just kind of forms a pure distilled form of rock and roll. Interestingly enough, however, this album also seems to take some cues from its sister band with a handful of slower, but simple songs that mix with acoustic folk (of what origin you will have to imagine), like in "Radian heart", "Buried by the blues" as well as "Sadie", and a bit of indie rock melodies, prominent in "The hair song", and "The space of your mind".
When a band sometimes tries to mix so many things into one narrative, there is often a proclivity to end up mixing and mucking up your style as well as the story that is told in an album. Thankfully this album pushes forth a strong narrative that keeps you hooked all through the end. Honestly, going through all the songs in a album is often hard, but the track selection made here has been so well placed, that you hardly notice a stop in the flow from one song to another, except for a slight bump at "Let spirits ride".
The wonderful mix of female and male vocals, with the very carefully handpicked decisions for genre related melodies makes all of the songs pleasing to hear, as well as opening up room for great harmony work and story telling that's prevalent in all of the tracks.
Truly, I cannot say enough good things about this album. Even while mixing so much, it feels very genuine to the corresponding styles, and the feel that you get for the band is very clear, and you have no doubts about what they are trying to sell here. If you are a fan of QOTSA, Desert Sessions, or rock in general, this is a very well made rock album that doesn't try to pretend to be anything else.
And a huge thanks to Sam for once again showing me great music.
And yes, that is a shark head flying above a forest.
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