Black Mountain - Stormy High

(Suicide Squeeze, 2006)

Golly, nice work, everyone. “Stormy High” is doomy – yet somehow bouncy?! – riffery over a martial beat, plus jaunty Floydian keys that prog things up further… wowzers. Music for longhairs: scalp & chin! Melodic sense comin’ out the nostrils, and just enough technical know-how on display to impress without being Too Much or Too Slick. There’s a general fidelity to the freakrock cause in the Black Mountain camp, but don’t ignore, chartwatching friends, the fact that those male/female vox, especially on “Voices,” hew awful close to NASA-country fuggers Oakley Hall, them being no slouch at writin’ a good one themselves. And certainly don’t forget that neither of these tracks pop up in the same version elsewhere, so pull whatever you need to pull to palm a copy. Got to admit I never thought Black Mountain would top the rolling bong-nut grooviness of “Druganaut,” but they make a purty damn good run at it on both sides of this one, and – know what? – the total package wins in the end. No bum notes here.