IN THE FUTURE

After being introduced to Black Mountain through their rather pathetic self-titled debut, my hopes certainly were not up when coming to the band's second album, 'In The Future'. I was expecting yet another series of poorly composed songs and whiny presentation (along with another opportunity to write an angry review), but with their second, Black Mountain has indeed surprised me. I was not expecting some decent stoner rock and competent psychedelic jams, but this is what I have received with 'In The Future'. While still nothing special or standout as an album, Black Mountain has really turned their act around, going from an amateurish indie sound to a much more energetic stoner rock sound that works much better. Nothing particularly impresses me still, but 'In The Future' is a step- hell- ten steps in the right direction for this Canadian band.

With 'In The Future', virtually everything has been improved. Everything from the vocals to the guitar riffs to the songwriting has been upped in quality, and this is much to my pleasant surprise. Besides the song 'Stay Free' (which was featured on a Spiderman film soundtrack, hence the band's moderate fame), there is no song here that leaves much of an impression, instead making for a pleasant, but none too deep listen. 'Stay Free' is probably the greatest point of interest here, seeing as it is the only song of the band's that has met many ears. It is a fairly basic acoustic ballad, with the male vocalist crooning like Neil Young, and for the most part, it works pretty well. Even so, the musical highlight here would probably be 'Bright Lights', where the band tries their hand at 'epic' psychedelia; a sixteen minute jam of sorts that starts out like a Black Mountain typical, but works into a fairly soundscapy freakout from the band. Fairly good stuff.

Maybe the best thing here are the female vocals of Amber Webber, who sounds like a dead ringer for Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane. While this robs Black Mountain of any hint of originality (they still revert to a retrogressive rock sound for the most part), Webber's voice has a great vibrato to it, and gives the band more of a nostalgic charm. I am still not entirely impressed by the band's work, but 'In The Future' has certainly saved Black Mountain from being considered a total dud in my books.

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