Take the best parts of Black Sabbath, mix with the Velvet Underground, Led Zeppelin and 80's heavy metal, sprinkle lightly with Pink Floyd (keyboards), David Bowie, and Kansas(!), and, voila, Black Mountain results. While this reviewer generally treads lightly on referencing past bands' sounds as a guide to current groups, Black Mountain openly proclaims their influences, both in print and on wax/disc. The trick, of course, is not just to "rip off" these influences, but to integrate them into something unique, and, with In The Future, Black Mountain achieves this goal in excellent fashion. Sabbath is the closest comparison, as In The Future resounds with heavy, heavy riffs, melodic vocals, and acoustic interludes, just like Paranoid, Volume 4, and Master Of Reality, the albums Sabbath made when they were at the top of their game (i.e, when Ozzy was in the band). But there are also differences, particularly when Black Mountain's Amber Webber lends her female pipes to cushion the musical heaviness. And then there's Jeremy Schmidt's inventive, "churchy" organ parts which underlie so many of the group's brilliant riffs. Add in drummer Joshua Wells' fondness for martial beats to go along with his 4/4 pound, and you get heavy-metal goodness heretofore unheard in the new millennium. The album opener, "Stormy High," starts with a plucked, reverbed guitar, which gives way to a straight-ahead beat and a chunky riff, all of which leads to a beautiful choral refrain which plays off against the heaviness to wonderful effect. It is this balance between bludgeoning riffs and beautiful interludes that goes on to define the rest of the album. Everything comes together in their 16+ minute epic "Bright Lights," which moves effortlessly from riff to drone to heaviness and back again. Then the album closes with "Night Walks," which contains some of the gentlest music on the album, headed by Webber's gorgeous voice. While Black Mountain's previous album and EP were both fine achievements, it is with In The Future that all their musical elements come together to provide a fine statement of heavenly heaviness and bombastic beauty. Black Mountain are clearly in it for the long haul. On the evidence of this album, it looks like it will be worth our while to tag along for the ride.

Stephen Malkmus headed up Pavement, one of the most seminal indie-rock bands of all time. Pavement was most often characterized by Malkmus' off-handed lyricism and winning way with a melody. Occasionally, however, Malkmus would indulge his guitar jones. This seemed to happen most often when the band was lacking a full bag of catchy tunes for their next album. On Real Emotional Trash, on the other hand, what we have is an album chock-full of good tunes AND Malkmus putting down the best guitar playing of his career. The album is full of solos both short and long, taut and stretched out, all the while surrounded by great melodies and tight ensemble playing. The addition on drums of Janet Weiss, late of the much-missed Sleater-Kinney, may be key in this development, as Malkmus may well have found a musical foil with skills equal to his own. Whatever the reason, Real Emotional Trash ranks right up there with the finest work of Malkmus' career. Opener "Dragonfly Pie" starts things off with a heavy metal-like riff, which gives way to a nursery rhyme chorus (with marimba!), which then circle back to the riff. And in the middle and end, a few loud and beautiful guitar solos find their place. Second song "Hopscotch Willie" seemingly tells the story of so-named small-time crook who says, "Can't blame me for my guilty face/It was a gift from my mother and my father in place/Of all the love they should have given/They just left me with this dirty DNA". It starts with a strummed acoustic and great tom-tom work by Weiss, and the adds some very sweet slide work, before concluding with another amplified wig-out. Tune after tune follow in this vein, contrasting sticky sweet hooks and melodies with indie-rock guitar-god excursions. One gets the feeling that these songs will be powerhouses when played live, so get yourself ready for their upcoming gig at the Vogue theater later this month.