One more (and the most thorough one) review from the Forgotten Path Magazine MOUNTAINSIDE [Ltu] “Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish and Short” [2013] Release type: Full Length Genre: Post-Metal Label: Self-Released Contact: [email protected] Mountainside is one of the older and better known Alternative Rock/Metal acts in the so called Lithuanian underground scene and while I have heard most of their earlier work before this release, for me it was just “ok” ranging from amusing to rather unexceptional with not that many truly interesting songs. Their previous album “All about Time” was a decent effort, but apart from several tracks it didn’t resonate with me. However, things have changed a lot during the six years that separate the new album from the last one. First of all, this is now definitely more of a Metal record (Post-Metal, perhaps) than a Rock record. Actually, in this album’s case it is very hard to pinpoint the genre - it’s a mix of softer Sludge’ish/Stoner’ish Doom, with a dose of Hardcore Punk’ish influence as well as distant echoes of Classic Rock. It’s a pleasure to notice the huge amount of musical influences that the band’s sound encompasses - whether you’re a fan of Monster Magnet, High on Fire, Kyuss or even Motörhead (these are just the first big name bands that popped into my head for reference, the reader’s opinion might differ after listening) you will most likely find a lot to love here. Make no mistake about it - the record has a very modern, clean and polished sound (and I don’t mean just the production values, but the music itself), so if you only blast old-school Metal records by Venom, Hellhammer, Obituary, Darkthrone or whatever the like, then this record would hardly be your cup of tea as it requires a certain amount of acceptance of modern heavy music. I must also note that for me this is one of the records that are better perceived while listening through headphones. The musicianship on the album is top notch, the guys really know how to play and all the instruments are audible; the album definitely doesn’t suffer from what some of us call the “Lithuanian sound syndrome”, where everything is muffled or horribly uneven. We also have a nationwide problem with most of the vocals on heavier records in Lithuania. Thankfully, the vocals here are rather competent - a mix of throaty shouting not unlike Matt Pike or even good old Lemmy in places, but there is quite a bit of variation - parts of spoken word, whispers and a more mellow cleaner style of singing slightly similar to the Desert Rock genre. The drumming is powerful, the bass sounds rich and is given enough room to breathe. The riffing deserves praise as well, as you feel tons of different influences for the riffs, but they’re never carbon copies and almost all of them are inventive and clever. Things are not all that perfect though, because due to several more experimental songs and passages of ambience/noise/whispering/spoken word the album sadly often loses its natural flow and punch. Therefore the listening pleasure becomes inconsistent at times. I do have to admit that after several spins I notice this problem less and less (and for some people it might not be a problem at all). The album is definitely a grower and has replay value, but the fluctuation of the flow is something you either like or just come to terms with. All in all “Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish and Short” is a very good modern Metal (the exact genre is for you to decide) album. A worthy listen and definitely one of the few records from my native land that I could safely recommend to most of heavy music listeners without feeling embarrassed. Oh, and the packaging of the album is awesome as well, look it up... [8; Nervas] https://mountainside-lt.bandcamp/
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 10:40:58 +0000
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