Demons may be hiding in our shadows

It's hard to believe that an album not even a year old is impacting this list. That being said, it's impossible for me to not include Black Mountain's undying influence on my love of music. Even if seems irresponsible to have something that's only 6 and a half months old on my list, oh well... that shows the gravity of it's importance. In The Future is this magnificent peice of rock music that really bridges the gap that I myself created. After grade school, I had virtually stopped listening to new music minus a few specific bands. This made my love for classic rock grow immensely, but I also missed out on a lot of good new music that was released from 1998 - 2002. In college, thanks to college radio, I listened to a lot of new music. Even though I have been out of college for two years, it's no surprise that Black Mountain is a contender for one of my all time favorite bands already. It's new music that sounds like classic music! Who could ask for anything more?

My discovery of Black Mountain was actually through their self titled record that came out in 2005. Last.fm is a website that has encompassed a lot of my love of music and has streamlined what I have been listening to a lot into nice little charts. It's semi-stalker oriented, which most online forums like it are, but there is something about documenting that kind of thing that really intrigues me. This list, itself, is documenting when I listened to what kinds of music at certain times over the past 25 years and so last.fm seems to be feeding into my own love of associating music and moments. This band can be directly attached to that whole mythos thanks to last.fm suggesting them to me. Even though it wasn't this album.

That being said, when I saw Black Mountain live, it was the songs on the new album that really hit me deep where you feel it. Right in the soul. The reverberations and the aura of the songs just washed over me. Maybe it was the bourbon I was drinking all night and not the music, but if anything, the bourbon was a conductant for the sweet rocking. I immediately anticipated the release of the new album which came early as I ordered it online on wax and received the digital download instantly. That instant goodness held me over until the next concert which was also amazing and not drowned in bourbon. Same vibrations soaked through my body, into my soul and exploaded into my cortex in a musical frenzy.

The first track I heard of the new record was "Stormy High" which bellows like a loud north storm and really just rocks all out in a way that you don't hear anymore. "Queens Will Play" and "Wucan" show that Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin can still sound relevant as long as their styles aren't played in a cliche manner. And here, they are not. The real astonishing track is "Tyrants." It's a prog rockin' blend of sweeping anti-government narrative, but not shoving ideals down your throat with anti-government cliches. it's more a face-kicking good tune that can be seen as political or just as a grandiose epic. At 8-minutes, it's easily one of the best structured and best listens of the past 8 years of the new millennium. Upon hearing this track live with it's mellotron goodness and it's epic harmonies, I was sold infinitely on a band that will be taken with my to the grave.

Hearing music that emulates your favorite bands without it sounding stale and crappy is breathtaking. Someone who loves old music yet wants to listen to new bands, I find that Black Mountain does everything I ever wanted right. In The Future is grandiose, hard rocking, beautiful and dreamy (especially on the drige-like "Night Walks") and is a companion to either playing Risk with friends or driving a long distance and needing some amazing rock music. Their live act on this past tour was impressive and an experience in itself. The expectation of what might go into a new album and several b-sides to this record show that, God Willing!- Black Mountain has staked a claim in the world of epic rocking that will hopefully continue and be a part of my life for the next installment of this series.

1. The Who - Tommy
2. Beck - Odelay
3. Television - Marquee Moon
4. Weezer - Pinkerton
5. Brian Eno - Before & After Science
6. Wilco - A Ghost is Born
7. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
8. Grand Funk Railroad - Closer to Home
9. Foo Fighters - The Colour & The Shape
10. Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
11. Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights
12. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
13. Jeff Buckley - Grace
14. Warren Zevon
15. Black Mountain - In The Future

Next Up: XTC's Skylarking