Wilderness Heart

Black Mountain | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 14, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Jagjaguwar
• ASIN: B003UHYSDK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,517 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Wilderness Heart, the new album by Black Mountain, is packed with succinct rock songs that pulse and pound with startling precision: it pummels you and you ask for more. This is arguably the band's tightest, most concentrated venture, but there's still plenty of raw rock energy at work. "It's our most metal and most folk oriented record so far," songwriter Stephen McBean says. "I'm not gonna say it's our best record or the album that we always dreamt of making 'cause that's what everyone says. It's all about where we were at the time the machines were rolling.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart September 14, 2010

By Andrew Vice

Format:Audio CD

It's hard to look back to the days of classic rock for inspiration without being pegged as a mere imitator. Black Mountain are clearly disciples of genre forefathers like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, but they bring a certain harmonious folk element to their work that helps to keep it from being mere derivation on the themes of those bands. Naturally, you're going to find that kind of heavy stomp that is synonymous with Zeppelin and Sabbath, but Black Mountain do things their own way, and they are given to long, proggy outings over tighter rock 'n roll. Wilderness Heart is a blend of heavier, driving rock songs and ominous folk numbers. Most songs feature both of the bands' singers, both talented and carrying the necessary bravado for their roles, but I wish that when singing in unison that they would sing more harmonies, where instead they are usually singing the same melody in a different octave.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Head On November 8, 2010

By Ian M. Rijsdijk

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I love the growth of this band. From Black Mountain through In the Future to this new album, I like the expansion of their sound. Evolution implies some kind of improvement, but that's not the case: the previous albums were excellent. This album is definitely more straight-edged, a rock album with driving songs like Let Spirits Ride and slower, heavier tracks like Rollercoaster. However, the gorgeous harmony and counterpoint of Stephen McBean and Amber Webber's vocals comes to the fore more than in previous albums (on tracks like Buried by the Blues) like a heavier version of The Decemberists (but not like the heavenly power of Kylesa). There's an awesome 70s feel all over this album with the right amount fuzz in the guitar and great layering of organ and synth. A really great album, and one of my best of 2010 so far.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Black Mountain's Wilderness Heart in 5 Sentences or Fewer September 14, 2010

By Adam

Format:MP3 Music

On Wilderness Heart, Black Mountain has further matured from their second release In the Future. This album finds them balancing the heavy Sabbath/Zeppelin/Judas Priest-sounding riffage of "The Hair Song," "Let Spirits Ride," and "Wilderness Heart" with the more delicate "Buried by the Blues," "Radiant Heart," and "Sadie." There's even "Old Fangs" which could have been recorded by corralling The Cars, Weezer, and The Smashing Pumpkins into the studio and locking the door. While the experimentation and heavy 70's psychedelics seem to have been scaled back on Wilderness Heart, it's still brutal and beautiful. This band knows how to rock.