Mountain Caller - Chronicle II: Hypergenesis (Album Review)

Release Date: 26th January 2024. Record Label: Church Road Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Chronicle II: Hypergenesis - Tracklisting

1.Daybreak

2.The Archivist 

3.Dead Language 

4.Into the Hazel Woods

5.March of the Göll 

6.Hypergenesis

Members

Claire Simson - Guitar

El Reeve - Bass

Max Maxwell - Drums

Review

Chronicle II: Hypergenesis is the new album from Instrumental Prog/Doom/Stoner Rockers Mountain Caller which showcases a different sound from the band compared to their acclaimed debut album Chronicle I - The Truthseeker. This time Mountain Caller adapted a more Progressive based Post-Rock flavour to their music which sees the band play heavy instrumental sounds that draws them closer to bands such as Pallbearer, King Buffalo, Elder, Russian Circles and Pelican.

The record is quite dominated by a Psychedelic Doom sound which is shown very early on within the excellent opening tracks of Daybreak and The Activist. Mountain Caller plays an emotional style of melodic grooves with flashes of Ambient Post-Rock delivery within the more tender movements of the songs. Though, the real aggressive power comes from the heavier Post-Doom and Post-Stoner sounds which become quite Progressive with lush cinematic sounds that delves further into Mountain Caller’s creative psyche. 

The whole flow and feeling of the album is built upon cinematic soundscapes which drifts with a natural warm glow that is shown primarily on The Activist before Mountain Caller transcends into a world of HEAVY RHYTHMS and sludgy vibes which carries upon to the rest of the album on other standout tracks such as Dead Language, Into The Hazel Woods and Hypergenesis. There will be times on this album where the listener will easily lose themselves within the music and fully understand the creative journey that Mountain Caller have delivered with this release.

Mountain Caller does include vocals within this album on the stunning third track Dead Language which opts for a slight Doomgaze/Shoegaze energy compared to the other songs on the album. Bassist El Reeve’s delicate vocals are more Alt Rock sounding with twinges of Gothic Rock but El puts in a majestic performance. I wonder if Mountain Caller will release an album full of vocals. As they can easily pull this off with ease and Dead Language is great proof of this.

Chronicle II: Hypergenesis is a beautiful, exciting and brilliantly original release which showcases a different style of music from Mountain Caller whilst keeping familiar themes and ideas from their previous releases. The production values are first rate that allows Mountain Caller to prove time and time again what wonderfully creative and technically fantastic musicians they really are. 

Mountain Caller are perhaps one of the most naturally gifted storytellers that I’ve come across within the UK Doom/Stoner Metal scene and I wouldn’t be surprised they will be playing the more prestigious festival slots and even bigger headline shows thanks to this album alone.

Chronicle II: Hypergenesis has the potential to be one of the year’s must have and standout albums. No question.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Church Road Records for the promo.

Chronicle II: Hypergenesis will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Church Road Records on January 26th 2024.

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Mountain Caller Sign To Church Road Records. The Band Release New Single THE ARCHIVIST From Upcoming New Album.

Doom/Stoner Metallers Mountain Caller have signed to Church Road Records. To celebrate this new found partnership, the band have released new single 'The Archivist'. New album news to follow soon.

Like all Mountain Caller tracks, 'The Archivist' takes you on a sonic exploration to worlds unheard of. It acts as the perfect vessel for the listener to conjure up thoughts and feelings truly unique to themselves.

The band said this about the track...

"We’re beyond thrilled to release “The Archivist” from our forthcoming new album. It’s hard to pick something indicative of the new record because each track forms part of the whole story, but it’s certainly a taste of our ambition. There’s so much more to come, including a continuation of The Protagonist’s journey and Mountain Caller lore. We’re so proud of what we’ve created and can’t wait to share it with everyone. We are also stoked to be releasing this with our new friends at Church Road Records too. Play it loud!"

Thanks to Church Road Records for the details.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Mountain Caller - Chronicle: Prologue (EP Review)

 

Release Date: July 09th 2021. Record Label: New Heavy Sounds. Format: DD/Vinyl

Chronicle: Prologue - Tracklisting

1.Something Stirred From Beneath The Rubble 09:02

2.Beyond This Black Horizon 05:58

3.Stripped Of All But Purpose

Members

Claire - Guitar

El - Bass

Max - Drums

Review

Instrumental Prog Doom Rockers Mountain Caller return with their new EP - Chronicle: Prologue, which acts as both follow-up and prequel to their wonderfully diverse and acclaimed debut release Chronicle 1: The Truthseeker.

This EP features similar themes, ideas and sounds from their debut album but has more than enough variety to see the band moving their sound even further with a more haunting Psychedelic score within the EP's almost 20 minute running time. The 3 tracks on show offer a lot of emotional depth with Mountain Caller playing between the many levels of Doom Metal, Post-Rock and Post-Metal with shades of Pelican and Pallbearer being some of the influences that I heard. I could also detect a slight influence from much missed Doom/Sludge Metallers - Fall Of Efrafa but that could be myself looking too much into things.

Opening song - Something Stirred From Beneath The Rubble - starts slowly with a mellow Post-Doon/Post-Rock groove before a heavier sludgy Post-Metal drive appears and Mountain Caller return to the powerful riffs they created on their debut album. This track is the standout track with it running for more than 9 minutes and I’m totally down with the Psychedelic and Post-Whatever tempo changes the band have used for this song. A real clever use of musical dynamics at play with the song both being beautifully played and frantically heavy at the same time.

The other two songs Beyond This Black Horizon and Stripped Of All But Purpose maybe aren’t as powerful as the opening but are still two superb examples of fantastic musicianship from Mountain Caller and even bring their own powerful heavy thrills and grooves along the way.

This EP consists of some of the earliest material written by Mountain Caller and it does show in places. However, this record is still a welcome addition to the The TruthSeeker story that Mountain Caller crafted so brilliantly on their debut album.

Chronicle: Prologue has got serious involvement from the Post-Metal community with Cult Of Luna’s Magnus Lindberg pulling mastering duties on this EP. And with Joe Clayton back producing once again, this EP sounds as fresh and exciting as what came before it.

 

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Simon at For The Lost for the promo. Chronicle: Prologue will be available to buy on Vinyl/DD through New Heavy Sounds from July 9th 2021.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Mountain Caller - Chronicle I: The Truthseeker (Album Review)

Release date: November 06th 2020. Label: New Heavy Sounds. Format: DD/Vinyl

Chronicle I: The Truthseeker – Tracklisting

1.Journey Through The Twilight Desert
2.Feast At Half Light City 

3.I Remember Everything
4.Trial By Combat
5.A Clamour Of Limbs
6.Dreamspiral

Members

Claire - Guitar
El - Bass
Max - Drums

Review:

Chronicle I: The Truthseeker is the debut full length album from UK Doom/Stoner/Post-Rock Instrumentalists – Mountain Caller and it’s an album I’ve been looking forward to hearing for some time. As I’ve had great things heard about this band and I wanted to see for myself was the hype justified and I’m happy to tell you that it is.

The album sees Mountain Caller bring their blend of Psychedelic Rock, Doom Metal, Stoner Rock, Post-Rock, Post-Metal with even flashes of Alternative Metal and Jazz Influences shining through on this album. Mountain Caller adapt a bold style of playing for this record and you can hear elements of SLEEP, Black Sabbath, Pelican and Russian Circles on this record but the band still play their own powerful style of Instrumental Rock/Metal music.

The opening song – Journey Through The Twilight Desert – is a lush sounding and heavy based musical odyssey where the group let known their commanding presence with a wide range of different style of music with the band starting things rather slowly with epic Post-Rock/Post-Stoner based grooves. Mountain Caller impressed myself the most when they changed musical direction towards the end of the song where a heavy and powerful Doom/Post-Metal riff comes out of nowhere and the album turns into a more threatening style of music.

Second song – Feast At Half Light City – sees Mountain Caller go another exciting cinematic Post-Rock journey with the band telling a cool story told through the power of music alone. The heavy riffs don’t take long to appear with a stirring mix of Post-Doom sounds and almost apocalyptic Stoner Metal riffs being added for a more fast-paced approach. This song evokes early memories of Pelican with El’s thundering bass playing impressing me the most though fantastic guitar playing by Claire and Max on drums make Mountain Caller a bad-ass POWER-TRIO this early on in the album.

Third song – I Remember Everything – has a more cautious and gloomy feel compared to the other songs on the album with a band playing an Alternative Rock style of music but slowly allowing the other parts of their music to join the party at different parts of this song. This is perhaps the song where you admire how talented Mountain Caller really is as the song is quite technical with the different styles of music the band have included on this song.

The remaining 3 songs on the album carry on the deft experimentation the band have shown on the 1st half of the album with some cool surprises along the way. Take the 5th song – A Clamour Of Limbs - for example. As the band add vocals to the mix. I’m not sure who is singing here but the vocals add a layer of subtlety and class to the overall sound of the song which is set against an ice cold Post-Doom/Post-Rock backdrop of heavy sounds yet again.

The production on the record is flawless and the whole record sounds epic. Though that isn’t surprising since the album was recorded by Joe Clayton of PIJN, and mastered by Magnus Lindberg of CULT OF LUNA. This record really allows Mountain Caller to impress on every song and every note played from start to finish. You can see that I was really impressed by this album and I was from the very first time I listened to it.

Chronicle I: The Truthseeker is a treasure chest packed full of brilliant riffs and brimming with creative ideas that you wouldn’t expect to hear on a debut album. Though, here we are with Mountain Caller’s debut record and it’s a record that you would be proud to have in your collection.

This is one of the best instrumental albums I’ve heard this year and will no doubt end on my Best Albums of 2020 list.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Simon at For The Lost for sending the promo.

Chronicle I: The Truthseeker will be available to buy on DD/Vinyl via New Heavy Sounds from November 06th 2020.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp