Black Mountain
Destroyer
Release Date: May 24, 2019
Genre(s): Pop/Rock
Record label: Jagjaguwar
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Album Review: Destroyer by Black Mountain
Great, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
The Canadian heavy-psych group's fifth studio long-player and the follow-up to 2016's IV, Destroyer is Black Mountain's tightest, gnarliest, and least sprawling outing to date. Clocking in at just over 40 minutes, the eight-track set commences with the assured "Future Shade," a guitarmony-heavy nitro-burning dragster of a jam that channels British Steel-era Judas Priest by way of Fu Manchu. Featuring a re-tooled lineup that introduces Rachel Fannan of Sleepy Sun and a trio of seasoned kit men (Adam Bulgasem [Dommengang, Soft Kill], Kliph Scurlock [Flaming Lips], and Kid Millions [Oneida]), Destroyer lives up to its moniker by using muscly classic rock and trashy '80s metal for a lodestar -- the name is a reference to the single-run 1985 Dodge Destroyer.
Based on rating 8/10
First gear, change is inevitable. Founding drummer Joshua Wells and singer Amber Webber left Black Mountain after the return to form that was 2016's IV — this after much of the band's gear was stolen while on tour in Sweden. What would have been death for many bands instead became a rebirth. Second gear, ramping up. Opening up his home studio in Los Angeles, singer/guitarist Stephen McBean slashed together old demos and riff ideas with the help of his many friends. Rachel Fannan (Sleepy Sun), Adam Bulgasem (Dommengang), Kliph Scurlock ….
Based on rating 7.5/10
Stephen McBean, the mainstay of the Black Mountain project as well as a key member of Pink Mountaintops and Grim Tower, has only recently passed his driving test (at the age of 48). This newfound sense of liberation and personal independence has permeated the essence of Destroyer, which is named after a Dodge muscle car, in its narrative themes of hope, freedom and looking to the future with optimism. Think late-70s Springsteen or early-90s Swervedriver in terms of narrative tropes around escape and journeys towards a brighter tomorrow.
Based on rating 7.0/10
Like a bitchin' phoenix airbrushed on the side of a tricked-out '78 Dodge B200 van, Black Mountain is a band always in the process of being reborn. Turnover has been almost constant in the metal outfit's 15-year history, with each album boasting a slightly different lineup. Founding members Joshua Wells and Amber Webber left the group in 2016, shortly after the release of their fourth album, handily titled IV.
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