The Mountain King to Release The Smell of Stars and Vomit Next Month
Eric McQueen of Mainz, Germany’s The Mountain King isn’t kidding when he talks about The Smell of Stars and Vomit being a different album than its 2020 predecessor, Wicked Zen, which I haven’t covered here nearly as much as I listened to it. That record was put together with a full band lineup spread out geographically, where this one pulls back to just McQueen himself and plays out as a 95-minute single track to be released as the year winds down at the end of next month. Quarantine-era duggery perhaps? Yeah, I expect there’s a bit of that going on, McQueen taking the opportunity to push his methods further since, well, what the hell else was he going to do?
But there’s a whole narrative aspect being fleshed out here too about a central character progressing beyond the physical realm, and the album is apparently in 7/4 time, and so that duggery is multifaceted as well as manifest in the difference in style — bass-heavy Warning vibes coming through the six-minute teaser below — and lineup, so it seems there’s plenty to shake out.
As to how it will, I’m at least interested to know. 95 minutes for a single song offering is well on the other side of what I usually consider “manageable,” and the quick turnaround here speaks to some urgency behind the expression.
Some info came down the PR wire:
The Mountain King – The Smell Of Stars And Vomit
A distanced look at the transition of man
Release date: Around december, 25th-ish, 2020-ish
Label: Self release of 1st edition, no label yet
The working process:
Since it’s the first album since 2014 I worked on completely alone in isolation, the artistic output will be hard to grasp at the first listening session.
The metrum on the whole album is in 7/4 time or a multiplicator in parts. The metrum and its decision will also be lyrically discussed.
Since Wicked Zen, our last album in 2020, was widely regarded as a “heavy guitar album”, the new release could be described as contradictory, “progressive melodic bass album”.
The vocals will connect the refrains with lyrical quoting and similarly structured archs in melody and metric. Also the story of the dissolving protagonist will be told by both lyrics on the surface and instruments drawing the listener deeper and deeper towards the black hole, which will be end and relief of story and album.
To show the momentary technological boundaries of digital art, the first release as one 95 min track will be on USB stick in a special edition, the only possible way to enjoy this piece of work at the moment without cutting it to pieces.
To ensure a desired sound and fitting listening experience, I got together with Esben Willems of the band Monolord. He will have the Mixing and Mastering process in his hands in his studio Berserk Audio in Gothenburg, Sweden.
These were insider facts to the upcoming album, thank you so much for your time and interest.
A digital preorder and a 6 minute teaser are here: https://themountainking.bandcamp.com/album/the-smell-of-stars-and-vomit
Kind regards and stay safe,
Eric McQueen
The Mountain King
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