- Release date:
- January 22, 2008
- Artist/Band name:
- Black Mountain
- Record label:
- Jagjaguwar
- Official Web Site:
- http://www.blackmountainarmy.com/
Why you should care: Black Mountain's iteration of the awesome metal of yesteryear is as good as the real thing, but as much as they sound like Zeppelin or bang like Sabbath, they've got one thing those bands don't: later birthdays. From thunderous jams to chilled freakouts, the band formerly known as Jerk With a Bomb can still blow up with the best of them.
Verdict: "In the Future" is a potent dose of showmanship for Stephen McBean, the man behind Black Mountain as well as avant-folk counterparts Pink Mountaintops. Headbangers like "Stony Mountain" and "Evil Ways" feed on acrobatic riffage, while laid-back lava lamps like "Angels" and "Stay Free" will leave you slack-jawed beneath the black lights. Meanwhile, the 16-minute epic "Bright Lights" is a blitzkrieg in binary code, one that would make Ozzy, Cornell and Page/Plant proud. The fact that McBean needs another popular Vancouver band to sublimate his stoner core is testament to his virtuosity.
X-Factor: Black Mountain opened for Coldplay, but one imagines that Chris Martin now thinks that might not have been such a good idea. "We've never played with a band that's made us look like such pussies every night," McBean swears Martin told him during an afterparty.
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