BLACK MOUNTAIN - In The Future

Highly anticipated and much discussed, this "In The Future", the second album by Canadian band Black Mountain, whose self-titled debut had stirred up great enthusiasm, even though personally I still struggle to understand why. And now people are already talking (of all things!) about "album of the year", almost as if they owned a (highly faulty) crystal ball.

A more or less seductive blend of hard rock, psychedelia, folk, progressive and whatever else, this is a record that is, yes, enjoyable to listen to with interest, but never quite manages to fully convince, perhaps because it's never truly convinced of itself - even if only as a joke, out of pure lack of planning.

More emotional, at times also heavier than its predecessor, "In The Future" hops cheerfully between disparate influences, giving the impression of not yet having entirely clear ideas, in this staying perfectly in line with the flaws of the self-titled debut (though perhaps, who knows, it's actually a genuine congenital limitation).

The opening of "Stormy High", somewhat Black Sabbath, somewhat full of Seventies hard swagger, has a fine cocky drive, showing how the band fares better when it avoids forcing its hand too much. The hypnotic "Wucan" takes a dive into the hard-prog cauldron, wrapping itself in a pitch-black veil that seems to glimmer in the darkness of its sonic perspectives.

The effect is guaranteed (predictable and at times even a bit banal: "Evil Ways"), aided also by a shrewd use of synth, grappling with undulating lines of sci-fi lyricism. After the propulsive intro, "Tyrants" instead plunges into a folk-psychedelic swoon (with traces of Jefferson Airplane) that finds an improbable redemption in the usual distorted apotheosis.

In this parade of uncertainties and deja vu, far more sincere and successful, then, are the ballads "Angels" and "Stay Free" (the latter a delicate bonfire of memories best savored by moonlight, without thinking about it too much), along with the reverently hushed atmospheres of "Queens Will Play".

Sincere, especially when compared to what should be the magnum opus of the bunch, namely "Bright Lights", which in a scant seventeen minutes tries at all costs to build a bridge between the most gothic and classicizing Pink Floyd and the most overused psychedelic prog, without possessing the synthesizing ability needed to take that great leap.

An effort that proves utterly sterile when we arrive at the sublime free-folk enchantment of "Night Walks" (with Amber Webber's wonderful voice), the absolute masterpiece of an album that, at least for this reviewer, will be remembered only for these 3'55" of pure, transcendental elegy.

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31/12/2007