Black Mountain - In The Future

A while back former philistine Nick "the hair" Johnson tipped me towards Canadian apocolyptic rockers Black Mountain--suggesting that they'd appeal to the soft spot of my "jammier" side. Well, it took me forever to finally get around to giving their early 2008 record In The Future a proper listen, but Nick was more than right: this record is awesome.

The band's musical stylings are steeped in canonical prog, metal, and psych influences, incoporating the dark, netherworldy guitar riffs of Black Sabbath, the mysticism and nods to English folk of Zeppelin, and a Pink Floyd-sized ambition for extended, shapeshifting songs that evoke the dramatic weight and movement of an epic poem. Yet somehow they pull it all off, holding things together with inventive, solid songwriting. Two of my favorite tracks are up for listening below. However, if you've got the stomach for it, go check out the whole record. Two songs alone are a poor stand-in for the full attack of the album.