Black Mountain’s 2008 release, In the Future, was epic, monolithic, and pretty much every other big word you can think of to convey the notion of a gargantuan slab of extended, smoked-out jams. It had elements of progressive rock, psychedelic rock, and metal. It pushed and pulled, twisted and tormented, and somehow made the ten-minute Rock ‘N’ Roll blowout vital again. Consequently, the relatively linear, “Old Fangs,” and it’s ’70s-styled chugging seems placid in comparison. Sure, some of the elements which made In the Future epic, monolithic, and gargantuan are still present — The acid splashed keys, the dual vocals of Stephen McBean and Amber Webber, thick, thick guitars — but with a tempo boost and streamlined song structure, “Old Fangs,” is a Black Mountain jam that could have been a Deep Purple jam, a Monster Magnet jam, or a Queens of the Stone Age jam.
MP3: Black Mountain – Old Fangs (via Jagjaguwar Records)
Black Mountain’s Wilderness Heart will be out September 14th on Jagjaguwar Records.
