Holy Mountain: Earth Measures

Like a prog Black Sabbath, without the cat fights.

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While Black Sabbath squabble with drummer Bill Ward, Glaswegian noisemongers Holy Mountain are bending the minds of all in their path with their splendid, ear-bleed 70s psychedelia. The three-piece’s latest EP is a combustible substance: a vintage, riff-driven trip down memory lane combining the roasting rock riffage of MC5 and the rabble-rousing racket of Lightning Bolt, with a left-field twist.

Earth Measures’ kaleidoscopic, hallucinogenic trip materialises from short, tetchy beginnings. Opener Gunner is almost punk-like with its barbed, stabbing guitars and vocals barked through the speakers with more attitude than butter-loving John Lydon could dream of.

The album then develops into a sprawling, psychoactive trip – the bass-heavy grooves of Swifty Fuckwit, will shake each hair follicle from your body. This highly unorthodox and intense journey into the abyss is tinged with a dark humour that’s sure to put a smile on the face of even the most miserable listener (even spurned drummers).

As closer Silent Hawk dissipates, your brain’s churned to sludge and you’re ready to go again. Black Sabbath? Black who?!