The music of Holy Mountain Top Removers quite literally knows no bounds. There is simply no end to the band’s sonic horizons. Just when you think you’ve begun to grasp their sound, it completely changes in the most unexpected—and exciting—of ways.
Without exaggeration, this Nashville band can play just about anything, and a major strength of theirs is that they use this power to blend any assortments of genres together into a single song. No matter how different and distant they may be, the group combines these disparate styles in a way that works perfectly.
From sultry guitar waltzes grafted onto surf beats and gothic atmospheres to haunting horn solos and neoclassical piano feeding into sludgy doom metal-like assaults, HMTR make the impossible possible. No matter what’s in the mix, they always seem to develop a new sound that is wholly unique and fascinating.
Take for example the desert rock/stark Morricone-esque twang of “God Said,” which, with its grim vocals and dusty nylon trills, echoes the eeriest and most forlorn material of Nick Cave and Mark Lanegan. The track’s combination of trembling violin and ghostly piano is also reminiscent of the vampiric instrumental musings of Jill Tracy and her Malcontent Orchestra. Then out of nowhere, a thunderous crash of raging guitar erupts, taking the already doom-ridden song into full on apocalypse mode. (This moment makes me jump every time). You truly feel like the band has actually come eye to eye with a vengeful god and are now forever changed as a result.
Coldly packed with grit and sin, Tonight The Machete Dreams is a triumph in enigmatic art that takes you into its shadowy world and never lets you go.
The album will be released on cassette and limited vinyl on August 3rd from the always excellent Centripetal Force label, but you can preorder both here.
Record Crates United 