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Black Mountain

As bands sprout up in Canada, many of them exist as part of larger music collectives. The Black Mountain Army is an extended family of Vancouver bands and friends that make music together and includes Black Mountain, Pink Mountaintops, Blood Meridian and Jerk With A Bomb. The collective is the brainchild of songwriter Stephen McBean. Of these bands, the newest, Black Mountain, has received the most attention with their self-titled album's success. The release on Scratch/Jagjaguwar Records is steeped in classic rock with hints of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Velvet Underground. Black Mountain's heavy sound might be the outward effect of four-fifths of the band having worked as mental health care workers. Each of the band's shadowy, swelling rock dreamscapes differ from next, but the songs sit well next to each other. Having opened a full Coldplay tour, Black Mountain is poised to climb the charts. —JB