The Silver Sun Pickups

I can’t count on two hands how many bands I have seen that are now the toast of the town. In my posting about Vancouver I mentioned a band called Black Mountain. When I first saw them, they were nothing more then an opening band. The only thing that was visible was the swirling of hair from Stephen McBean as he belted out the song “Druganaut”. I was pleased when last night I check my mail and found a copy of in my mail box. Don’t ask how I got the album a week before its release. I did some things I’m not pleased about. All joking aside, I was excited about hearing this effort from Black Mountain. There previous album was a dive into the 60’s back to the 90’s and then a quick dip into the 70’s, all topped off with just a hint of stoner metal to make one very nice album.

When I popped the album into the stereo, I felt like I was dusting off my collection of vinyl. The album shoots, or rather gallops out of the gate with the song Stormy High. The song doesn’t aim to be vintage, or strive to sound retro, it sits in a happy place of progressive and reminiscent. Two songs in, the music takes a stretch and jams out with the tune Tyrants. The song clocks in at 8 minutes and made me paint a mental picture of a magma spitting volcano. Something close to Mt. Doom, and for some reason in my head, I was scaling it with a sword in hand. The song moved in shifts and even tipped its hat to the Doctor Who theme song. The next track breaks into guitar driven stoner metal with the lightest touch of synth that would make Electric Wizard and Black Sabbath stand up and applaud.

The last part of the album consists of a song that is damn near 16 minutes long. The song “Bright Lights” may be long, be it’s solid from start to finish. I can only really describe it like listening to a musical with three acts, the buildup, the climax, and the plateau. The entire album is nice nod to allot of different genres and styles. The band isn’t trying to revive anything like some of the garage rock acts that came along in the first part of 2000. They are in there own world, and the album reflects that. In The Future is just that, an audible journey fraught with desolate lands, expansive valleys, and the occasional psychedelic trip to a land that resembles the world of H.R. Puff n stuff. I wouldn’t call this album a classic, but if this is what the future holds I’m growing my hair out, moving to Canada, taking a sword and a bong.