When you first listen to Phantom Hound you get the feeling that these three folks from Oakland, California make music that sounds familiar, yet new. Already since The Ether, their first E.P released in 2016 (with a different line-up) we could recognize the influence of bands like Soundgarden, Black Sabbath, and Pantera in its sound, although mixed with stoner rock and more classic heavy metal.
In Mountain Pass, their first LP released in March 2020, the band consolidates that path they were on with eight heavily energetic compositions that demonstrate the seriousness of a proposal which renews the West Coast heavy music scene.
The album begins with “Northern face”, the lead single. We listen to the locomotive’s horn approaching at great speed, then the bass of Steve Rogers (epic superhero name, by the way) starts to play, followed by the drum patches of Jack Stiles and immediately, the guitar and guttural voice of the band’s leader, Jake Navarre, hit us. It is a raw and heavy rock song and also the band’s sonic manifesto: monolithic riffs, long instrumental passages and forceful lyrics.
There’s a concept traversing the entire album: the epic of an inevitable and final journey into the unknown, through valleys and steaming forests surrounded by mountainous landscapes and stormy skies. Lyrics about the encounter with usually cruel and powerful, sometimes fearsome and other times reckless beings, as if out of a mythological western movie. An atmosphere of darkness, fire and nostalgia descends on the protagonists of these stories, who, like the locomotive that illustrates the cover, never stop despite the dangers that beset them.
And the same happens with the first four songs of the album, which form a powerful and compact guitar-bass-drums combo and don’t give respite to the listener. An incessant waterfall of energy that is very well dosed in the different sections of each song.
“Grace of an Angel”, a bucolic acoustic instrumental adorned with delicate keyboards, cymbals and tombs, stops the march of this Californian power trio for a moment, allowing us to catch our breath.
“Mountain Pass”, the song which names the record, starts its second half, decreasing the speed and referring to the strong grunge influences of the band, with melancholic lyrics and a riff that reminds us of the best of Alice in Chains.
“Devil Blues” shows us another source of inspiration for Phantom Hound, offering a thriving rock-blues about an unfortunate and cursed destiny.
The rotten and accurate riffs of “The Southern Face”, the latest and more doomy track, ends the journey begun on the north face of this ruthless and relentless mountain, a journey masterfully set to music by a band that has a very clear musical mission: a struggle to create and play music that comes directly from within.
Mountain Pass is an elaborate and cohesive album, full of distorted guitar riffs and groove, with effective melodies and attractive stories. A record that we recommend listening with a good pair of headphones to get carried away and enjoy the smart and precise studio mix. In short, an excellent start that will leave all the genre lovers wanting more of what this California based band will surely let us know in the future.
I’m Music Magazine Contributing Writer Emiliano Doldan
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