In The Future - Black Mountain Album Review
Black Mountain
Album Review
Like your music classic rock style? It's for you.
When Led Zeppelin reached album number two, they already had a great album on their hands. It's not happened for Black Mountain. Inevitably with a loud / quiet philosophy, comparisons with Zep and Deep Purple are obvious.
When needed, Black Mountain can pack a real punch. If not they can do quieter soft rock too. Power riffs are a speciality with these four guys and a gal from Vancouver. There aren't (thankfully) the obligatory or gratuitous undisciplined solos either. Things seem well in order here on their second full studio album. Giving a strong nod to 70s classic rock, Led Zep, Deep Purple et al, with a touch of psychedelia, Black Mountain are more than a band constantly compared to the likes of Black Sabbath. Okay, they can thrust a monster riff, but they're far more sophisticated than Ozzie's former outfit. In The Future is far from a classic, and for a second album (and this may be the long-suffering problem of the dreaded Number 2), it's short on the wow factor, nevertheless it's quite promising. They blast off with a Purple-esque riff, Lord-like keys and wailing vocals courtesy Amber Webber, with guitarist and singer Stephen McBean matching Ritchie Blackmore any day on the stratospheric solos. BM come into their own with the ominous sounding Tyrants, though it does ramble at the mid-point, but are soon back in the groove with some scintillating solos prefixing the mellow outro. A steady beat and dirty solo carries Wucan. It wafts by with little direction, whereas Stay Free (featured on Spider-Man 3) has more an alt-country flavour a la Devendra Banhart, dripping in honeyed vocals and harmonies. Queens Will Play is a disappointment because to takes to long to reach a peak around the 5 minute mark, and not helped by Amber's warbling. Evil Ways (not to be confused with Santana's Evil Ways) is a cocksure audio assault , not to dissimilar to a Deep Purple groove, though Bright Lights is nothing more than a shambolic and laboured rocker. A Bjork-like delivery by Amber ghosts the album to a close.
Lyrically they scale issues such as God, the Devil and extremes, almost the normal fodder for Rock'nRoll then.
White Stripes' Jack White made rock cool again, Black Mountain are treading an old path.
File under: Interesting 21st century take on Prog-Rock, nothing more.
