Black Mountain Black Mountain

Black Mountain, the front-line soldiers for the BlackMountain Army, an arts collective from Vancouver, BritishColumbia, write, perform and record music that speaks (andsings) to this realization: that solutions are rarely simple, thatthe world is as complex as it is ambiguous, and that musicsprinkled with an inoculating dose of madness may well bethe Pied Piper that takes us all back into the primordialmountain, where our hearts can be made steady and ourminds can be set free.Their debut self-titled record, like a space probe built oferector set parts and transmitting secret and arcanemessages to earth by string, charts territories unknown yetremains grounded by the roots of classic rock and roll. It iseasy to discern these roots: Black Sabbath, 'Animals'-eraPink Floyd, Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin and Can. Principalsongwriter Stephen McBean's vocals are a smoother,bluesier amalgam of the voices of Neil Young, Mick Jaggerand perhaps James Brown loaded on cough syrup. Andwhen Amber Webber's voice joins Stephen's, thecombination brings to mind the potency and chemistry ofRichard and Linda Thompson singing together on 'Shoot OutThe Lights,' or of Meat Loaf and Ellen Foley howling togetheron 'Bat Out Of Hell.' Musical comparisons aside, the BlackMountain full-length is one part protest song, one partpop-cultural commentary, and one part sick-groove-rockcasserole peppered with mesmerizing ballads andintoxicating ditties."Modern Music" is the lead-off hitter and counts it's way tothe imposing and riff-rife "Don't Run Our Hearts Around".Immediately thereafter, the sludge-rock masterpiece"Druganaut" establishes the fecund heart and tone of therecord. This special 20th anniversary edition of 'BlackMountain' adopts the remastered audio from 2015'sexpanded release, and is available in limited quantity onclear shadow wave vinyl."A rollicking, wildly adventurous reconfiguring of 1960s and70s nostalgia that's as duty-bound to the present as it issympathetic to the past." - Pitchfork, Best New Music [2005]"Black Mountain's love for old school rock tropes and it's jamband tendencies lend it's debut a protective and timelessaura." - FLOOD Magazine [2015]