Black Mountain – Wilderness Heart
Be careful of what you wish for, your wish might just come true. After listening to Black Mountain's single, 'Old Fangs', I said that I couldn't wait for the album. Well, the waiting's over and "Wilderness Heart" is now here.
The hard gigging Canadian psychedelic outfit has produced an album of great contrasts and moods. Delivering hard psychedelic tunes, dabbling with prog rock and occasionally veering off towards a more melancholic trip, their experiment has certainly worked.
The album opens with the curiously entitled 'The Hair Song'; an upbeat and up tempo rock track with a hint of the psychedelic guitar and keyboards. This is what I expected and it was reassuring to find it right here on the first song. The single, 'Old Fangs' follows; with a heavy and moody traditional 60s/70s British psych feel and addictive melody. Things at this stage were looking quite promising.
The next song, 'Radiant Heart' is a quieter piece; vocal duet over acoustic guitar, the melody and style being more folky, with even a hint of the medieval. The song develops with some nice atmospheric synths, but sadly this particular track doesn't seem to fit and sits somewhat awkwardly amongst the others. 'Rollercoaster' is a return to the heavier side; nice chunky chords introducing the track, some nice developments and arrangements ensue and the overall mood it generates makes this track stand out as probably my favourite on the album.
The heavier feel continues with the up tempo 'Let Spirits Ride'. This rocks along to a more metal feel with heavy chords and catchy vocals, which is in contrast to the drifting 'Buried By The Blues', with it's trippy moods and eerie steel guitar. Though this excursion was temporary, I felt that the band should have stuck with what they do best, the heavier songs and stacked the quieter ones towards the end.
'The Way To Gone' is a return to the more electronic psychedelia and has a much heavier feel. This sets the listener up nicely for 'Wilderness Heart', a track that drives along with pounding drums and rhythm section. This is what we want!
The last two tracks change the mood completely. 'The Space Of Your Mind' is a much gentler offering, evoking images of the Beatles 'Sergeant Peppers' era and the slow lament of the album closer 'Sadie' shows the band in a more melancholy mood.
The band members are all very capable musicians and their take on modern psychedelia is very commendable. They capture some very nice atmospheres, though some of their arrangements can tend to be a little self indulgent. That aside, the album works well and there are some great tracks on there.