Album of the day: Mount Carmel – Mount Carmel

Praise for Mount Carmel‘s self-titled album from Still Single: Plenty of bands drink from the well of tribute, allowing their vision to plateau in service of authenticity or Good Time Charlie-ism, because it’s fun and familiar, and for some quite easy to achieve. Mount Carmel is that rare band that takes an existing concept – here, British-influenced blues-based rock circa 1966-69, the times that bore Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Cream, the Steve Miller Band, and above all, Free – and steers it so that they become a continuation of that earlier dialogue.

The six offerings here from this Columbus, OH trio (five originals and one Ten Years After cover, which claims much of side B) sound as if they would have been that delayed next step towards metal, retaining all the subtlety of the form’s masters in one of the richest recordings I’ve heard in some time … apparently ‘L.F.W.’ doesn’t always mean bled, dried and stuck to the lathe. Can’t really pick a favorite, as this thing just gets better and better with each listen, perfectly balancing and, most importantly, holding back when it’s most needed.

Few realized that this music is best when it’s restrained, allowing each element of the band to contribute to the work as a whole. I’d liken it to the first Witchcraft record in terms of the impact this thing is gonna have with its gradual discovery. I could actually see this getting insanely popular, even, because these three young men are going to be the band that revives this sound altogether, and takes it to the minimal endpoint it longed for in 1972. A perfect record.

Tags: Album of the day, heavy 70's, Mount Carmel, Still Single

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 6:42 pm and is filed under 2011, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.