The Holy Mountain Bloodstains Across Your Face In Decline

[editor: yes, we know this album came out last year. We don't care.] Anyone remember last year From Ashes Rise went big, those Tragedy records continued to blow minds, kids across the nation tried to grow beards and get a whisky-inspired voice. All in all it seemed like banner year for credible crust-metal-infused hardcore. Well, everyone's forgotten all that shit and moved on, but The Holy Mountain are holding it down. And bless their little hearts for it, because this shit is good. Nowhere near as epic as the aforementioned bands, The Holy Mountain instead plays the fast and angry vibe exclusively. No track exceeds three minutes and the point is always made in the first 10 seconds of the song. Dramatic intros are left at the door, replaced with relentless drumming that chases you around the room from the word go. For those of you wearing sweatshirts with the word MOSH on them, this might be the ultimate bummer album. There are moments of real heaviness, many moments actually, but each one is delivered in such a way that the "unwashed spazz" is the only dance move that'll do. I'm curious how this album (actually a CD collection of two releases up-til-now only available on vinyl) will be received. Every year, hundreds of similar bands release something on just-as-numerous microscopic labels. It goes largely ignored by most other fans of underground music, and rightfully so- there is so much of it, and it is of such incredibly varying quality, that it's just too much work to maintain as an interest. But by No Idea Records giving this a genuine stamp of quality, as well as wider distribution than this music normally gets, it opens some doors musically. I'm ok with that. Bottom Line: Smelly-kid-basement-music done exceedingly well. Will girlpants be replaced with buttflaps this year I could see this winning some kids over.