Release Date: October 15th 2025. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: CDD/Vinyl
Wasted Tales - Tracklisting
1.ATM 10:20
2.Greed & Gold 04:14
3.Quarantine 05:24
4.The King Of The High Mountain 08:47
5.Feel The Same 12:03
Members
Frederic Macieri : Vocals / Guitar
Georges Leibfried : Keyboard
David Omhover : Bass
Jeremy Denepoux : Drums
Review
Wasted Tales is the debut album from High Mountain which sees the band navigate the areas of Doom, Psych, Stoner Rock, Prog Rock and a twinge of Post-Rock heaviness. The band say they’re influenced by the likes of KYUSS, ELDER, TOOL and KING BUFFALO but you can see the bands passion for the legendary GRUNGE scene with flashes of Space Rock appearing within the opening standout track of ATM.
High Mountain craft a subtle style of hazy extended instrumental jams, cosmic interludes and blues rock melodies that;s held together by a classic and cinematic style of Prog Rock. The song can be beautifully heavy, soulful and quiet especially when the band delve into a subdued style of Desert Rock which slows everything down for an emotionally charged style of music. This only lasts a short time before a massive sounding POST-DOOM / POST-STONER burst of mighty musical aggression with trippy waves of ELECTRONICA and COSMIC SYNTHS.
There’s a lot to deconstruct and analyze about ATM as High Mountain can’t help themselves but include as many different types and styles of Stoner Rock/Metal which becomes the dominant musical feature for Wasted Tales. This is perhaps where the TOOL influence fully kicks into life for High Mountain and it’s one of the best parts of this album where the band take the listener on a real musical adventure.
The next two tracks of Greed & Gold and Quarantine are not as progressive as the opening track but still offer moments of real clarity and grounded heaviness with an excellent amount of Post-Stoner and Doomed Out musical beats with lead vocalist Frederic Macieri projecting his vocal talents to go outside the DOOM/STONER ROCK Spectrum with a heavy reliance on Grunge, Alt-Rock and Shoegaze appearing.
There’s quite a cautionary and alternative musical style forming in the background which allows High Mountain to return the heavy Progressive based sound from the opening track on the epic two final tracks of The King Of The High Mountain and Feel The Same. The narrative is wholly intriguing and relies upon a classic HEAVY ROCK structure being formed which then branches out into other parts of COSMIC and SPACED OUT melodies that once again brings a forceful STONER METAL attitude to deafen the listeners.
Wasted Tales is a record that sees High Mountain take huge gambles with their music and create a highly adventurous style of music that is superbly original within its own right. You never know what musical journey that High Mountain will take you upon the first listen and this record only becomes even better the more times you listen to it.
Wasted Tales is a spellbinding and highly captivating record that captures a majestic form of cinematic storytelling that’s offset against a ton of outstanding Doom/Stoner Metal grooves of the highest order.
Words by Steve Howe
Links
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