Black Mountain

While the divide between stoner metal and indie rock had been eroding for some time by 2005, this debut by Black Mountain evaporated any such distinctions entirely. By packing allusions to the Velvet Underground, David Bowie, and Roxy Music in the same bowl with Sabbath and Pentagram, BLACK MOUNTAIN simultaneously reinvigorated a tired catalog of riffs and ripped the lid off a vibrant Vancouver scene of heavy psych revisionism.
Singer-guitarist Stephen McBean's unabashedly classic-rock obsessed songwriting (sample lyric: "I can't get no satisfaction") is the album's prime mover, but the quintet's various weapons inhabit his hooks with an inspired intensity, among them organist Jeremy Schmidt's panoramic Hammond e.q. sweeps, Joshua Welle's mighty and loose drumming, and co-lead vocalist Amber Webber's haunting vibrato that recalls a metal Stevie Nicks. Between the squealing saxophone of "Modern Music" and the triumphant anti-authority refrain of "Faulty Times," McBean and Co. deliver a slam-dunk neo-classic that touches upon creativity, psychedelic exploration, and desperation in a time of modern media and war. They're thematically not unlike PARANOID, ultimately, but with enough mainstream appeal to land them the opening slot for a Coldplay tour in 2005.