This is the debut album from US black metal band Mountain Shadow.
Mountain Shadow play atmospheric black metal and their self titled record contains 53 minutes of material. It might not be what you’re expecting though, as Mountain Shadow have created something a little different in some ways on these eight tracks.
Mountain Shadow is an atmospheric black metal album that’s raw and immersive, and incorporates folk influences in an embedded way. The latter add texture and intricate feeling to the former’s old-school heart. The resultant mixture is in many ways an atypical one, and brings in other influences too from the likes of punk, death metal, and thrash.
Imagine a mix of different parts of bands such as The Meads of Asphodel, Panopticon, Dawn Ray’d, Sigh, Wayfarer, Imperial Triumphant, and Darkthrone, and you’ll have an extremely rough starting point for Mountain Shadow.
The layered music is expressive and dark, yet also multicoloured and full of personality. The traditional black metal is spiced up by non-standard blackened riffs, melodies, and ideas that are incorporated into a folk-enriched atmospheric framework. It’s a charismatic and engaging formula, demonstrating a band unafraid to take the template of atmospheric black metal and make it their own. Despite the obvious legacy of its base components, the music sounds remarkably fresh, melding its folk and black metal elements not only in frequently unusual ways, but also blending in the punk/death/thrash ones to produce something quite individual.
Mountain Shadow is an intriguing and compelling debut record. Although still rough around the edges in places, it’s not only an enjoyable album in its own right, but contains a huge amount of promise for the future. Mountain Shadow are definitely a band to keep a close eye on.
Highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 