Black Mountain

"In the Past" may be a more accurate title, as Black Mountain prove they can juxtapose blood-splattering-on-walls imagery with mathematic musicianship as well as any of their '70s idols. More dense and refined than their debut, this album finds the Canadian collective fiddling with operatic rock solos, male/female vocal interplay and space-aged synths. They achieve the greatest lucidity on the heftiest tracks: "Tyrants" and the nearly 17-minute "Bright Lights" shift from lazy, cozy fuzz into metal god territory with a precision that echoes Zeppelin's mysticism, Sabbath's madness and King Crimson's progginess.

If this is the future, start growing out your facial hair now, because it looks like the
blood-crazed Canadian hippies will inherit the Earth. Black Mountain are four men and a
maiden from Vancouver, reveling in psychedelic prog metal with all the Seventies
flourishes. In stoner-detention epics like "Wucan" and "Queens Will Play," they bring metal
guitars, multipart song structures, temples-of-Syrinx poetry and vintage synths t... More >