Mountains Crave – As We Were When We Were Not (Review)

Mountains Crave are a UK black metal band and this is their debut album.

This is black metal that skilfully builds progressive, atmospheric, and post-metal elements into its construction.

Mountains Crave take everything from Wolves in the Throne Room to Deathspell Omega to Mayhem to Fen as influence across this incredibly impressive album.

The songs build atmosphere and emotive moods easily across the playing time. The tracks are very effective at what they do, with a firm grasp of dynamics, flow, and structuring. The compositions show a deep understanding of what makes this kind of involving atmospheric/progressive music so engaging when done well, and on this release everything is done so very well it’s staggering.

The music is diverse and enthralling, capturing the essence of what black metal is supposed to be and fusing it with a sense of vast wonder and exploration, like looking at the stars in an open sky, but then actually launching up to meet them.

Many different moods and experiences are offered throughout this all-too-brief album. There’s less than 45 minutes of material here, but every second is used to effectively create vivid pictures via the band’s evocative music.

Diverse and rich, everything from blasting icy hatred to post-metal reflection is offered up by the band for the listener’s delectation. It’s a heady feast for the senses, but the music pulls you in so utterly and completely that when the album is over, you’ll just want more, more, MORE!

High praise, I know, but this album is worth it. Just one single listen will demonstrate how much talent Mountains Crave have got, and multiple spins merely cements this impression further.

Essential.