Mountain Tamer - Psychosis Ritual
Originally based in San Francisco but now relocated to LA, Psychosis Ritual is the third album from Mountain Tamer. Theirs is a sound that is rooted in doomy, stoner rock with a weighty dose of psychedelia thrown in. Envisage, if you can, Crowbar and Sleep collaborating on covers of Pink Fairies and Hawkwind. Take that and add in dashes of Flipper, The Melvins, Pigs X7 and even some Butthole Surfers and you’ll be part way to imagining what Mountain Tamer are doing. It is nothing particularly new but it is done with style and verve.
The rhythm section of Casey Garcia (drums) and Dave Teget (bass) rumble away to good effect, with Teget playing some inventive, interesting and unexpectedly melodic runs. Andru Hall’s guitar is as grungey as can be expected, whilst his voice mixes Perry Farrell and Robin Proper-Sheppard (of cult act The God Machine), with a touch Cobain vulnerability. My only complaint is that the words seem - without the benefit of a lyrics sheet – seem to re-tread the usual doom-stoner topics of drugs, war, myth and magic. Ignore that and this is an album that is heavy, cathartic and surprisingly catchy.
