Album Review: Magick Mountain – Weird Feelings

Magick Mountain is a name that conjures up images of the kind of band beloved by people stuck in a time warp with vast collections of Ozric Tentacles and Hawkwind albums, the press release further encourages this mental image by indicating that “Weird Feelings” is filled with tales of infinite space, otherworldly escapes, hazy dreams and, well, “Weird Feelings“. However, we should all should know by now that first impressions aren’t something that should always be trusted, and this album its no exception, Magick Mountain are a band that deliver a high octane fuzzed out blend of psychedelia, proto-punk and garage-rock through it’s trio of current and ex members of Grammatics, Mother Vulpine, Pulled Apart By Horses, Sky Larkin and Menace Beach.

There are further comparisons between “Weird Feelings” and the space rock bands of the 70’s and 80’s as there are themes of fantastical worlds, ancient mythology and mystical metaphors, whilst “Magick Mountain” might take influence from the past they are certainly not recreating it. The opening track ‘Bart Cobain‘ possesses a fuzzed out garage rock riff with spaced out lyrics, dual vocals and accentuated solos, something that immediately separates them from the herd of garage bands that have resurfaced. Fuzzy crashing riffs reverberate around the entirety of “Weird Feelings“, from the short sweet garage thrashers of ‘Zodiac‘ and ‘The Shitty Beatles‘ to the heavy psychedelic fuzz of ‘Stranger Danger‘ and ‘The Creeper‘ through to frantic garage pop of the singles ‘Infinity X2‘ and ‘King Cobra‘, along with unexpected eye of the storm that is ‘Dream Chaser‘

“Weird Feelings” has been a long time coming, the album was recorded in an unhurried and reflective way over the course of eighteen months, the band’s debut full length is comprised of instinctive moments captured at home, in rehearsals and in the precious hours snatched in the studio with producers Margo Broom and James Kenosha. For fans of the likes of The Cutthroat Brothers and The Two Tens this is coming from the same sonic angle, like those bands this is a collision of styles, in this case it encompasses influences from psychedelia to garage punk and pretty much everything in between. The end result is a curiously timeless album, it’s raw fuzzy experimental garage psyche punk wouldn’t sound out of place at any any point in time, at least in the years I’ve been on this earth, and it’s the kind of album I want to hear live whilst I’m still on it.

Magick Mountain‘s debut album “Weird Feelings” is set for independent release on October 23rd and it can be pre-ordered via Bandcamp here