Horseback - The Invisible Mountain

Horseback’s second outing in the form of The Invisible Mountain carves out a cavernous niche among current day psychedelic droners. It brilliantly divines its way into the deepest recesses of the mind probing the subconscious in an effort to attain a higher level spiritually and self awareness. Against a hazy backdrop of lo-fi noise and a groove laden back end, a bewitching choreography unfolds which pairs an eerily ringing guitar tone in an alluring tango with blackened vocal rasps.

As we are guided through these four tracks, shades of various genres like blues, metal, stoner doom, ambient and psychedelic rock blend into each other, creating a unique sensibility that is at once imaginative and seemingly effortless. “Invokation” unwaveringly propels itself in forward motion with the intensity and drive of John Henry throwing his hammer down in precise rhythmic time. Vocally, it seethes with a controlled anger that ripples like flexing muscles under a tautly drawn and transparent skin. “Tyrant Symmetry” frequents much the same territory but begins the shift away that is necessary for the meditative strains unleashed in the coursing title track. Oftentimes images can be conjured up from sounds; ones that we had no idea were possible. For me, “The Invisible Mountain“ conveys a scene of a lone horse rider out on an open and sparsely vegetated plain under a blazing summer sun racing toward an unseen mountain refuge. The rider is near delirium with mirages manifesting before his eyes, but determination and sheer will win out in his quest to conquer the vast divide. The mountain is a myth but the rider is real. He knows he must discover truth for himself and step beyond his known environs to achieve all that he is capable. Yes, this music is peyote for the ears and mind with its entrancing wall of droning noise.

“Hatecloud Dissolving into Nothing” provides the necessary “come down” from the self imposed whipped frenzy that our rider has subjected himself to. Gone are the harsher vocals - mostly haunting whispers now. The loud droning has been replaced by a fuzzy hum. A melancholic sustained guitar tone drifts in like steam in a sweat lodge; a comforting blanket as it settles all around. Clarity and inner peace have arrived and the struggles have abated for now. It is the longest song on the record but provides the listener a chance to alleviate all tension and discord with its soothing vibrations.

Jenks Miller is somehow able to translate the chronicles of his personal battles with untold demons into a monolithic wave of sound that spans the spectrum with audacity and unflinching candor. Beauty and terror can be found in the extremes and The Invisible Mountain has it spades.

Release Date: August 3, 2010
Label: Relapse Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Invokation
2.  Tyrant Symmetry
3.  The Invisible Mountain
4.  Hatecloud Dissolving Into Nothing

Total playing time:  38:10

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*Comments:

July 12, 2010

Reviewer: M.J.