And, I say it as a premise, I’m not that crazy about post-metal … (Yes, there is some post-metal involved here, and even some kind of “sludgecore”, that I normally try to avoid, but, hey, these guys cast a spell on me!!!)
The five earnest-looking bearded “cowboys” in the photo are the present-day line-up of Chico-based Cold Blue Mountain band, i.e., from left to right, Daniel Taylor (drums; keyboards), Adrian Hammons (bass), Brandon Squyres (vocals), Will McGahan (guitars) and Sesar Sanchez (guitars). Bassist Adrian Hammons and singer Brandon Squyres are both in (… difficult to pinpoint … epic, blackened thrash/doomcore) band The Makai and Brandon Squyres also sings in sludge-doom monster Amarok (read something here and here, and soon about the new split with Hell!)
So Cold Blue Mountain act may be new to the scene, but the guys have their feet righteously deep into it, for sure. Cold Blue Mountain are tagged as playing “sludge/stoner” on the mighty Metal Archives, although the band’s style is so hybrid that encompasses sludge, doom, macho fuzzy grungy desert-stoner/hard rock, post-metal, hardcore, and let’s add the experimental/prog/avantgarde tag for good measure. This is likely reflecting what the band’s members are and have been into in terms of interests and experience in music. This might also sound the foreword of a mess, if referred to an album. However Cold Blue Mountain were able to blend all this vortex of components into a perfectly smooth synthesis in the comparably short, 30 minutes-long debut album which conjugates badassery side by side with emotional strength and charm in a totally natural and easily flowing way: a “crushing, pretense-free sound”, according to the definition given by the band. The album comprises 9 tracks, i.e. eight songs (Branch Dividian Compound, Time Flies like an Arrow, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, White North, MK Ultra, Dark Secret, Lone Pine, Comatose) plus a short outro (MK Outro).
The synthetic skill of these musicians is such that the transition across the array of styles mentioned above, and especially the frequent escapes into post-metal or the adoption of other experimental solutions, get unfolded into incredibly short time spans. No song on the Cold Blue Mountain album is over 4 minutes long! But this temporal shortness does not mean that these songs are unbalanced, done hasty or things like that. Tracks may change in tempos, moods and styles from one another and actually often within each of them in a sometimes bizarre way, although each song possesses a distinctive character that will never fail in attracting attention.
For example the opener Branch Dividian Compound stands out for the dynamic, almost shamelessly joyful impact of its uptempo development that immediately slaps the listeners in their faces with the manly energy of the rambling, distorted riff charge and war-like drumming. It is a sudden push to headbang, and it is not the only one you’ll experience this urge. Some other tracks (like in Time Flies like an Arrow, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Comatose) may variably explore tormented inner states and/or intimate and mournful atmospheres by using post-metal dissonant, glacial or dilated sounds, by means of the emotional impact of hardcore, by slowing down, or else brutally messing up, tempos.
Intense feelings are sometimes evoked by introduction of keyboards and delicate acoustic passages, like, for example in White North or in the tender piano notes in the MK Outro. But the tormented inner states are not permanent. The band’s riff-heavy heart beats hard for raaawk, so any occasion will be good for steering from torment to groove within the same track. Or else songs like Dark Secret and Lone Pine will come forth with their massive loads of groove. Dark Secret is a high-energy ballad blending the heaviness of doom with some boiling hot desert fuzz rock, whereas Lone Pine is driven by a curious but killer grungy/stoner swinging mood.
Also Brandon’s vocals contribute to this sonic adventure by shifting from scarring, insanely sick, blackened sludge growls and hisses to tortured screams and laments and to wild and dangerously alcoholic choirs. Awesome performance, but this holds also for the rest of the crew. This band rips hard. The remarkable compactness, and completeness, of the tracks in the Cold Blue Mountain album indicates that it is possible to blend styles successfully, and employ genres, like post-metal, for creating emotionally intense atmospheres by using music like the colour-dense strokes of a painter. These guys are able to grip your attention and instinct, give you the effective hint in the short but intense time span of their ballads, and then it is your imagination that goes on and on by working on sensations, and having a great time. Earlier I mentioned the release of Cold Blue Mountain’s debut S/T album out as 12" vinyl LP, plus poster and download code, via Gogmagogical Records (since April 19th 2013). But be aware that there is a tape cassette version as well available on Vulture Print, beside, of course, the digital version via i-Tunes and Bandcamp. The beautiful, stylish black or double-coloured LP or the totally old-school tape cassette of this clever, charming, insanely addictive, heavy (yes) metal (yes yes) album will easily spin or be in loop many many times on your record/tape deck, while waiting for new, killer stuff coming from this bunch of bearded California metalheads. Like busy wizards they are already at work, recording …
Words: Marilena Moroni
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