Mount Saturn Premiere “Sword First” Video; O, Great Moon out Friday
Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on March 14th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
[Click play above for the video premiere of Mount Saturn’s ‘Sword First.’ O, Great Moon preorders are available here.]
Bellingham, Washington’s Mount Saturn make their self-released full-length debut this week with O, Great Moon, a six-song/40-minute collection that builds on the direction they took on early-2019’s Kiss the Ring EP (review here) and sees the four-piece beginning to flesh out their material atmospherically. This can be heard almost immediately on six-minute opener “Astraya,” as the four-piece of vocalist Violet Vasquez, guitarist Ray Blum, bassist Cody Barton and drummer Josh Rudolph steer their way into a reverb-laced spaciousness that very much sets the tone, literally as much as figuratively, for what comes after. The vocals are far enough back in the mix to let the guitar and bass breathe, but able to cut through in the song’s more driving later moments, meeting the instrumental crescendo head on until the quick final-rumble leads to the drum-led beginning of “Sword First,” the video for which is premiering above.
It is the second single from O, Great Moon — recording/mixing by Erik Takuichi Wallace at Shibusa Sound and The Unknown Recording Studio in Anacortes, WA, mastering by James Plotkin — behind the previously-unveiled nine-minute “Sandcrosser,” and in its fuzz and languid tempo, it feels like an update to some of what Acid King brought to their Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere album in the middle of the last decade, and the bridge reminds that both Blum and Vasquez are fans of All Them Witches. None of this should be cause for complaint, and the manner in which the track slowly unfolds gives Vasquez room to push herself vocally, adding emotional and soulful crux to the accompanying thud and crash of the drums, the airiness of the lead guitar and the thank-goodness-it’s-there-or-we’d-all-be-lost bass. “Sword First” saunters into an even-bigger nodding finish, which is only welcome as what’s clearly intended as a vinyl side A — no release planned, wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if that changed quickly once more people hear the album — moves toward “Sandcrosser” for its culmination.
Among the ambitions Mount Saturn resonate throughout O, Great Moon, whether it’s toward a high-pine psychedelia, heavier groove or what, is patience. This can be a particularly difficult trap, especially on a first long-player, but both “Astraya” and “Sword First” find ways to harness urgency toward fulfilling ends — the former with speed, the latter with largesse. “Sandcrosser” brings a smile as it announces the arrival of its first verse with a guitar blurt (really, it sounds like a blurt) at 1:55 into its total 9:26, and as the longest inclusion on the record, it is a prime opportunity for the band to disrupt the structural pattern they’ve already set, which they do, working in volume trades in verses and choruses in the first half before “Sandcrosser” takes off in its midsection, cuts briefly to quiet, and then goes outward again, lumbering astride a riff that reminds of the time Tool covered Led Zeppelin that holds a place soon to be filled by a skillfully plotted solo. At the very end, you can hear fingers sliding on strings, and that brings a human element to the procession, but there’s little question that Mount Saturn have accomplished their goal not only of conveying patience, but using it to construct a sound that is immersive, that brings the listener along its dreamily rolling course.
It’s to the band’s credit that “The Knowing,” with its progressive flourish in the shimmering early guitar and atmosphere coinciding with its mellow shuffle in the verse, follows directly. Running 8:16, its sensibility as an answer back to “Sandcrosser” is palpable, and results in a depth to the construction of O, Great Moon that goes beyond just two sides, the tracklist setting itself into three pairs with the longest of them, “Sandcrosser” and “The Knowing,” in the middle. Like its predecessor, “The Knowing” rolls out in its own time, but its linear build and cleverly-layered solo in the second half, rising up in the mix before consuming it and receding as the next wave is set up, add to an open vibe marked out early and complemented by the vocals following the pattern and mounting intensity in the guitar, bass and drums. The surge hits at around 6:38 and comes across as earned rather than sudden, and is met by vocal layering that is an arrangement aspect Mount Saturn will hopefully continue to develop as they move forward.
“The Knowing” drifts into “Haunt” as the final pairing begins, also with a build, but just about half as long and correspondingly more straightforward in its delivery. It is a consciously wrought grounding effect — evidence for Mount Saturn thinking of O, Great Moon as a whole work as well as making moves to best serve the individual tracks — and as the only cut under five minutes long, the fullness of its shove and delve into an almost classic-metal-derived riff in the back end serve to hold momentum firmly as the band make ready for “Crooked Bones” to round out, its galloping course laid forth by the drums soon joined by guitar and bass ahead of the vocals. Thus the speed that caps “Haunt” is no fluke, and “Crooked Bones” pushes more into this direction, giving O, Great Moon an energetic setup to its conclusion, which comes with a laugh that in itself pays off the classic metal vibe earlier while sounding likewise sinister and sincere. The word “earned” applies here as well.
For as much as they demonstrate an awareness of who they are and what they want to do as a band on the level of craft, O, Great Moon sends no signals that Mount Saturn have finished growing as a unit, and it’s easy to imagine that, given the consciousness-of-self (as opposed to self-consciousness) shown otherwise, they know it. But O, Great Moon is a quality album as well as being a promising debut, and it shouldn’t be looked at as one at the expense of the other, however they might continue to forge their own path moving forward, develop the patience of approach that’s nascent here and explore their impulses as regards arrangements and structures. On the most basic level of putting on a thing and hearing it on its own terms, Mount Saturn have moved beyond Kiss the Ring and onto their first LP with a clearly conveyed feeling of intent to progress further, and they offer an abundance of signs they’ll do just that. Here’s hoping.
