Style: post-metal, doomgaze (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Holy Fawn, Latitudes, Alcest, Oceansize
Review by: Jonah
Country: California, United States
Release date: 22 May 2020
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published in the May 2020 Part 2 issue of The Progressive Subway.]
Even though I think I’ve had some consistently high album ratings in my reviews this year, there have been very few that I’ve listened to and just immediately fell in love with. Most of what I’ve covered thus far has fallen within the “pretty good” and “very good” range, but very little “great” or “exceptional”. Well, that time has finally come, because through some California witchcraft Mountaineer have crafted the single best doomgaze album I’ve ever heard.
Do you want gorgeous, sensual melodic lead guitars? They’re here in abundance. Massive skull-crushing, fuzzy riffs? Those are here too. Intricate and mesmerizing drum patterns that I’m still working on figuring out? You better believe it. Big, bone-shaking bass guitar? Yeah boy they’re here too. To cap it all off you’ve got these gorgeous, soaring clean vocals that wouldn’t feel out of place on the best albums of the grunge era, and some absolutely massive Neurosis style harsh vocals. All of this combined together leads to some of the best music I’ve heard in 2020, and honestly some of the best music I’ve heard in the past couple years, which is no easy feat because some of my all-time favorite albums came out in the past couple years.
Shifting the focus from performance to sound quality for a moment, this is a beautifully produced album. The mix is perfection, I can hear each and every element of the music just clearly enough, without damaging the fuzzy, oppressive sonic aesthetic the band have gone for. This leads to the entire sound coming through as both crushing and beautiful, suffocating and freeing, heavy and soaring all at once.
This is one of the best performed, best sounding and overall best albums I’ve heard so far this year. Usually I would put a little “well if you like this genre check the band out!” blurb here but honestly, you owe it to yourself to listen to this album regardless of whether you’re usually a fan of doom, or shoegaze, or post-metal, or sludge, or any of the other things happening here. This is just an exceptional piece of music that deserves to be listened to.
Recommended tracks: The Weeds I Have Tended, Bloodletting, Shot Through With Sunlight
You may also like: idk about this one will update later
Final verdict: 9/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | BigCartel Merch | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Label: Lifeforce Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Mountaineer is:
– Miguel Meza (vocals)
– Forrest Harvey (guitars)
– Isaac Rigler (guitars)
– Clayton Bartholomew (bass, guitars)
– Dillon Variz (bass)
– Patrick Spain (drums)
0 Comments