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Mountain God Stream Forest of the Lost EP in its Entirety

Posted in audiObelisk on February 17th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

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The single-song Forest of the Lost EP from Brooklyn four-piece Mountain God first came to my attention when the band played part of it at a late-2013 gig at The Grand Victory in their native borough. Mountain God had a different lineup at that point, but it was easy enough to see that their noise-infused post-sludge was coming together quickly in the wake of earlier-that-year’s Experimentation on the Unwilling demo tape (review here). Resonant in both its crushing tones and bleak atmospherics, Forest of the Lost is set to be released this Friday as a limited cassette at a show held at Brooklyn’s The Acheron after more than a year in the pipeline.

For many, the 19-minute single-song narrative will be their first encounter with Mountain God, who also made the trip west last year to play Hoverfest in Portland, Oregon. Recorded as the four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Ben Ianuzzi, bassist Nikhil Kamineni, keyboardist Jonathan Powell (since replaced by vocalist/noisemaker Chris “Dickler” Dialogue) mountain god forest of the lostand drummer Ian Murray (since replaced by Ryan Smith, also of Thera Roya), “Forest of the Lost” works in two parts, both of which offer resolute churn as they make their way toward a noisy apex. One can see in the waveform that the split comes past the halfway point in the 19:19 sprawl — or what would be a sprawl but for the claustrophobic feel of the track — and the first part devolves from fervent chugging into a wash of noise only to have the second movement pick up with a near-psychedelic feel in the guitar, airy like post-rock gone awry and abducted along some desolate highway.

Prior to that divide, Mountain God (as they were) take doom’s tonal lurch and post-hardcore sludge’s bombast to someplace entirely more malevolent, never losing sight of atmosphere as Ianuzzi snarls out echo-soaked vocal misanthropy. Past the five-minute mark, they set about pulling the song to pieces, Murray‘s drums grounding an otherwise untenable onslaught of drone, and during minute 11, the guitar steps forward to introduce the central riff of the second half, an intensity that jams en route to a head that, by the time it gets there, is more slammed than played, the last hits of “Forest of the Lost” also proving some of the hardest hitting. The consuming force of the EP — recorded and mixed by Kamineni at Archaic Audio — isn’t to be understated, but it’s worth letting you find that out for yourself, so I’ll get the hell out of the song’s way and do that.

Stream “Forest of the Lost” on the player below and dig into the release/show info, which follows:

On February 20th, 2015, Mountain God will release its sophomore record, “Forest of the Lost”. The EP is a concept record, consisting of a single song broken down into different movements.

The diverse track twists and turns over the course of 20 minutes, focusing on the plight of a medieval village, located somewhere in the deepest recesses of mankind’s history. The village children, left to their own devices, disappear into the night searching for proof of a local witch, all the while their parents engage in acts of depravity and debauchery.

As the story reaches a climax, the listener is challenged into thinking about the cast of characters, and the true nature of good, evil, neutrality, and indifference. Musically, the record is a melding of 60s and 70s psychedelics and aesthetics with the heaviness, crunch, and shattering riffs of traditional doom and metal.

Mountain God, in conjunction with the acclaimed booking/promotion agency Signature Riff (New Jersey), is proud to announce the “Forest of the Lost” record release show, to be held at the Acheron (Brooklyn, NY) on February 20th, 2015. “Forest of the Lost” will be available to download through Mountain God’s bandcamp page, as well as physically through a limited run of 50 cassettes.

MOUNTAIN GOD (NYC) Record Release Show (Archaic Revival Records) w/ IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT (NYC), HERCYN (NJ) and DREADLORDS (PA)
When: Feb 20th, 2015
Where: The Acheron, 57 Waterbury Street in Brooklyn
Cost: $5 advance/$8 day of
Doors: 8pm

Mountain God on Thee Facebooks

Mountain God on Bandcamp

Release Show Event Page

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Mountain God Announce Forest of the Lost Release Show

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 30th, 2014 by JJ Koczan

mountain god

Brooklyn four-piece Mountain God are getting ready to release their Forest of the Lost EP in Feb. on Archaic Revival Records, and they’ve announced the release show Feb. 20 at The Acheron. Joining them on the bill for the night will be Imperial TriumphantHercyn and Dreadlords, so it should prove an evening of varied extremities, but some pretty steady pummel throughout. I’ll be interested to hear how Mountain God‘s lineup shifts since the release of their 2013 demo, Experimentation on the Unwilling (review here), and if you make your way through the info below, you’ll notice I’ll be streaming the EP a week before it’s officially out, so we’ll get an advance answer on that question when the time comes.

Info follows:

mountain god release show poster

Mountain God: “Forest of the Lost” Record Release Show Announced

Mountain God, in conjunction with the acclaimed booking/promotion agency Signature Riff (New Jersey), is proud to announce the “Forest of the Lost” record release show, to be held at the Acheron (Brooklyn, NY) on February 20th, 2015. “Forest of the Lost” will be available to download through Mountain God’s bandcamp page, as well as physically through a limited run of 50 cassettes. Additionally, the band is proud to announce that the Obelisk, noted blog for all things heavy, will stream the record beginning the week before the release date.

Mountain God arrived on the scene back in 2013 with their first record, “Experimentation on the Unwilling”. Since that time, the band has continued to explore and develop their own musical identity, melding guitars, bass, and various types of keyboards and synths to create what some concert attendees have described as a “wall of sound, emotion, and texture”. Live, Mountain God works toward making each individual show an experience unto itself, a non-stop, unrelenting barrage of riffing, melody, and noise.

The band is proud to share the stage with black metal juggernauts Imperial Triumphant, who have been hard at work on their sophomore release “Abyssal Gods”, and are no strangers to the Brooklyn scene. Also on the bill are New Jersey’s own Hercyn, who recently put out a split with Brooklyn act Thera Roya. They are known for their own trailblazing style of experimental, atmospheric black metal, complete with plenty of tremolo picked, intense passages. Rounding out the bill is Pennsylvania’s Dreadlords, who recently made CVLT’s Top 6 Avante Garde releases for their first full length, “Death Angel”.

Huge thanks to New Jersey’s Signature Riff, well known in the metal community for their work on such festivals as Martyrdoom, as well as countless other shows supporting bands from all over the world.

When: Feb 20th, 2015
Where: The Acheron, 57 Waterbury Street in Brooklyn
Cost: $5 advance/$8 day of
Doors: 8pm

https://www.facebook.com/events/887152854637043/887370227948639/
https://www.facebook.com/MountainGodBand
http://mountain-god.bandcamp.com/

Mountain God, Experimentation on the Unwilling (2013)

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Duuude, Tapes! Mountain God, Experimentation on the Unwilling

Posted in Duuude, Tapes! on November 6th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

What I like most about Mountain God‘s debut demo tape, Experimentation on the Unwilling (released on Archaic Revival Records), is that it gets more and more fucked the further into it you go. Based in Brooklyn, the four-piece band incorporate a dreary kind of psychedelia, and come across partially indebted to Electric Wizard on the nodding “Fields of Life” or side two closer “Maarrat al-Nu’man,” but seem less fixated on the darker aspects of pop, and so are less generally anchored and all the more chaotic for it. The five tracks included on the tape would sound blown-out no matter what media they appeared on, but Mountain God — which features Alkahest members Nikhil Kamineni and Jonathan Powell on bass/vocals/engineering and keys/vocals, respectively, as well as guitarist/vocalist Ben Ianuzzi and drummer Ian Murray — make their atmospheric intentions clear on their first outing, and the format on which they’ve chosen to present it plays a role in that as well.

So do the keys, actually. And the multiple vocalists. And the overbearing buzz of the guitar distortion. Really the whole thing is feeding into an overarching sense of mood — foggy, vaguely demented, generally but not necessarily outwardly threatening — but it’s Powell‘s keys that make the most striking impression, and they do so most of all on “Prophet,” which rounds out side one. With just a few single notes that reach up from the chaotic, swirling morass, Powell pushes the song into a different league of individuality and memorability — somebody had The Downward Spiralwhen they were in high school — and elsewhere on Experimentation on the Unwilling, as on the preceding “Fields of Life,” the keys lend a horrific ambience to what would otherwise be almost expected churn. The sheer nastiness that comes across on the opening title cut and spacious chug of “Fallout” would likely be enough to distinguish Mountain God anyway, but the listening experience is that much richer for the creeping melodies that ensue from the keyboard.

Particularly from a demo, I wouldn’t ask much more than that kind of rudimentary show of personality, but Mountain God‘s songs have more to offer than nascent aesthetic and generalized potential. For the consuming tones of “Fallout” alone or the lyrical narrative of the lysergically-riffed “Prophet,” Experimentation on the Unwillinggives more to dig into than it might initially seem, and taken as two whole sides on the tape, it’s immersive and hypnotic in keeping with its atmosphere. I hope these guys have a fog machine. They might need two or three by the time they get around to writing their next batch of material. In the meantime, their debut is available currently in a physical edition of 100 cassettes that seem to just be waiting for vinyl companionship.

Mountain God, Experimentation on the Unwilling (2013)

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Mountain God on Bandcamp

Archaic Revival Records

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