Tag: Giant of the Mountain

Interview with Giant of the Mountain

Giant of the Mountain Logo

Having just released their impressive, diverse and very individual second album Moon Worship, I caught up with the band to find they’re only just getting started…

Give us a bit of background to Giant of the Mountain

Giant of the Mountain is a Dallas based metal band started by me and my wife Randi (the drummer) in 2008. We both started on guitar, went through member changes and Randi switched to drums. Since then, we’ve released a few recordings, and evolved into what we are today.

What are your influences?

I would say my main influences are Opeth, Emperor, and Death.

What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?

Right now, I’m listening to Mournful Congregation. I haven’t been able to put The June Frost and Concrescence of the Sophia down lately. They are incredible. I’ve also been jamming Laethora out quite a bit. They haven’t put anything new out recently, but it’s so dark, brutal, and a little crusty too. I also recommend the new Infestus, and the new Imogen Heap is really great too.

You have a wide range of styles in your sound – how would you describe your music?

Basically everything I write is me trying to make my own My Arms, Your Hearse (Opeth). We have a little death, a little black, and we also try to be progressive about it. We also welcome singing and acoustical passages. I guess I just have a song in my heart, and I can’t help but show it to the world, you know?

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

Well we are constantly growing and evolving as a band, and I wanted to fully capture our progression and growth on tape.

Giant of the Mountain BandAre you happy with how it turned out?

Yes, most definitely. I think it’s the best thing we’ve done to date.

What lyrical themes/feelings have you covered on it?

Mostly it’s Lovecraftian lore. There are songs about Dagon, Yig, a Cthulhu/Shub-Niggurath spawn and one about the moons in The Elder Scrolls lore (Masser and Secunda).

What’s the meaning of the album title?

Mostly the songs are about the moon, and reverence to it. It’s about the moon calling its followers the depths to Dagon.

Your songs have a lot of variety and interest to them – how do you go about writing your songs?

It’s hard to say where exactly inspiration or that magical special riff that makes the song comes from. Once something that really strikes my fancy comes along I start building on that until I have a whole song. After that we start working on adding the drums and bass, and then I write the lyrics and working them into the songs. Then we practice them until we feel they are the best they can be.

How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?

I definitely want more of everything. I want more complexity, brutality, and blackness. I want more acoustical passages and I want to top the vocal harmonies we did in moon worship. To me there is no limit, and we are at the beginning. I haven’t even begun to think of my best idea yet.

What can we expect from future releases?

Hopefully it’s something you wouldn’t expect. I want something to take you off guard and pull you in at the same time. Who knows what we’ll come up with!

What’s next for Giant of the Mountain?

Touring ! We want to play everywhere, and we want to meet more great people from around the world. Metal really does have the best fans. It seems like no matter where you go, and what city you’re in metal folks are always cool to be around.

Thanks! 🙂

You’re very welcome!

Giant of the Mountain – Moon Worship (Review)

Giant of the MountainThis is the latest album from US Blackened Progressive Death Metal band Giant of the Mountain.

Blackened Progressive Death Metal? Sure it’s a bit of a mouthful but it is a more-or-less adequate description of Giant of the Mountain’s music.

Their songs have distinct Progressive tendencies with complex riffs and structures congealing around an exploratory Metal core.

Death Metal serves as the largest percentage of that core, albeit a form of Death Metal that relies on melodics and technicality rather than sheer brutality.

And the Blackened part? This is sprinkled on top of everything really. It’s not as if Black Metal is a massive part of their sound, but it’s definitely a feature and they would sound quite different if this aspect of their music was removed. It’s a quality of some of the riffs, it’s in some of the vocals and it’s apparent in the distinctly non-Death Metal recording.

Couple all of the above with a bit of Sludge and a DIY attitude and you have Moon Worship.

Apart from the Blackened vocals we also get Death Metal grunts and some Viking-esque epic cleans.

The involving songs make the most of their play time with melodies and passages that seem to draw you in before going off on another tangent. These tracks really have been well written and the underground production enhances the feeling of listening to something special. This is a very creative and enjoyable release.

If you combine parts of bands like Enslaved, Opeth, Death, Gorguts and a whole slew of others then you’ll have an idea of the Giant of the Mountain sound. It’s refreshing. My only slight complaint is that even though the production on the album is adequate for the most part and for some instruments, (like the bass), it’s perfectly judged; for me the drum sound is a little weak and timid sounding. This is very subjective of course, (like all things music-based), and it’s not enough to spoil my enjoyment of this album, it’s just that it sounds a little flat to me and for a band that are as good as this I would prefer fuller-sounding drums.

Slight sound issues aside though, this really is the kind of album you want to take your time to get to listen to; absorb and repeat. It’s well worth the time.

As you can see, this is not your average release and certainly stands out from the pack. Get your fill of Giant of the Mountain and get worshipping the moon as soon as you can.