Holy Mountain – Ancient Astronauts

Glasgow-based hard rock trio Holy Mountain turn the psych-factor up to eleven on their latest release; there's a noticeably extended sense of scope on this follow-up to mini-debut Earth Measures. Though Ancient Astronauts is still a relatively brief outing, the trio's fascination with the cosmic and the otherworldly gives the impression that we're dealing with a much grander beast here.

 

That's not to say they've trimmed their bar-brawl roots; this band cut their teeth playing filthy, quickfire jams in sweaty dive bars as a duo, so it's nice to know that they still display urgency on faster-paced, stripped back numbers Lv-42666 and Tokyo. But they also know that their reputation can't rest on these well-worn tricks alone, so they've followed in the steps of peers The Cosmic Dead and Hey Colossus, resulting in unpredictable tempo-shifting and all-round experimentation on tracks like Star Kings and Gift Giver.

 

What we're left with is a record admirably indebted to both retro psychedelia and modern noize. Tone freaks are going to love it.