Few contemporary bands make progressive doom metal sound so… good. And while those three genres put together may sound like a recipe for disaster, Black Mountain prove on In The Future (2008), that by taking the best aspects of each, they create the perfect soupy, sludgey, mind-numbingly awesome mix possible. The potent, murky brew that they unleash exudes a strange attraction, mixing one part Black Sabbath, one part Pink Floyd, and dilute each with a misty blend of organ and synth baths, guitar sonicbooms, and the banshee moan of singer Amber Webber. It coalesces to form a firmly tight but spacious belly for the music, allowing it to swim and simmer, but it is the classically tight riffage that comes out of this syrupy and thick morass that brings it all home. The furious “Stormy High” and the stoner-exploration of “Bright Lights” stretches out the space-time continuum of the album, making it feel like it blisters on into infinity. The album is smartly composed, drawing quiet, small place-settings for tracks like the Neil Young-esque “Stay Free” and “Night Walks”, showcasing the necessity of introspection in an album full of big trips and little ego’s. In The Future is a careening asteroid of a record, hurtling through space, uncertain of its point of origin or end, but it pummels through the endless ether, zooming towards something greater. It is the very essence of Black Mountain, and with it comes the knowledge that they were able to capture it all on record.
Listen to “Stormy High” and “Wucan”
Download “In The Future”
